The international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders warned on Wednesday that malnutrition has reached alarming levels and is threatening a large number of children in northwestern Yemen.

The United Nations has unveiled a response plan worth more than $8 million to address acute malnutrition in 6 districts in the governorates of Hodeidah and Taiz (western Yemen).

The United Nations has warned of the expansion of acute malnutrition levels in areas controlled by the legitimate government, calling for urgent intervention to prevent an increase in the incidence of the disease and deaths resulting from it among children under the age of five.

Some 2.2 million children in Yemen are acutely malnourished, including around 540,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, putting them at risk of death if they do not receive adequate health care.

The World Food Programme announced on Thursday the start of the process of distributing emergency food aid to more than 115,000 people in areas witnessing a rising rate of malnutrition in the governorates of Hodeidah and Taiz (western Yemen).

Peter Hawkins, the representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Yemen, warned of the worsening malnutrition crisis among children, especially with the ongoing conflict and economic collapse.