A doctor checks a sick child in Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, Nov. 16, 2019. Only about 50 percent of health facilities in Yemen are functional, operating with serious shortages of medicines, equipment and staff, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned here on Friday. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua)

 Only about 50 percent of health facilities in Yemen are functional, operating with serious shortages of medicines, equipment and staff, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned here on Friday.

WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told a press briefing here Friday that after more than five years of intense conflict, Yemen remained affected by a number of health risks, including restricted access to health facilities at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of care, the inability of health facilities and teams to respond rapidly to disease outbreaks and epidemics.

Since 2015, he said, there had been about 156 recorded attacks on healthcare facilities as well as incidents involving healthcare workers.

Noting that the humanitarian crisis in Yemen remains the worst in the world, Lindmeier told the press that in Yemen over 24 million people are in need of assistance, of which 19.7 million are in need of healthcare or healthcare access.

A woman holds her sick child waiting their turn to receive treatment in Al-Sabeen hospital in Sanaa, Yemen, Nov. 16, 2019. Only about 50 percent of health facilities in Yemen are functional, operating with serious shortages of medicines, equipment and staff, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned here on Friday. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua)

Almost 20 million people are food insecure and more than a quarter of a million are severely malnourished, at highest risk and on the brink of starvation, he added.

According to the spokesperson, so far this year, 24 donors had contributed a total of 162 million US dollars to the Yemen Humanitarian Fund, and between January and September 2019, the Fund had allocated 130 million US dollars to 43 humanitarian organizations that were implementing 80 life-saving projects across all sectors of need in the country.

So far in 2019, he said, over 6 million people there had been supported by humanitarian assistance made possible through the Fund.