ADEN, Yemen, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's protracted armed conflict has severely crippled the nation's health system, leaving 17.8 million people in need of health assistance, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday.

Marking World Health Day 2024, the WHO said it is working to ensure millions of Yemenis can access essential health services.

"The challenges that people in Yemen have to face cannot be described," said Arturo Pesigan, WHO representative in Yemen.

"Children who are referred to nutrition wards are only there because of prolonged starvation. The health system is fragile and faces difficulty in meeting the increasing demands."

According to recent data from the WHO, women account for 24 percent of the 17.8 million individuals in need of health assistance and are in critical need of reproductive health services.

Meanwhile, a larger percentage, 50 percent, consists of children, with more than 500,000 children under the age of 5 needing urgent treatment for severe acute malnutrition.

Additionally, 10 percent of these young children are experiencing severe complications that necessitate intensive hospital care.

As Yemen grapples with armed conflict, infectious diseases like cholera, dengue fever, malaria, and measles also pose serious public health threats, according to a WHO-supported multihazard risk assessment.

Yemen has been embroiled in a protracted civil conflict since 2014, when the Houthis seized control of the capital, Sanaa. In 2015, a Saudi-led military coalition intervened in an attempt to restore the government.

Despite diplomatic endeavors over the years, neither side has demonstrated the will to revive negotiations aimed at resolving the conflict, which, according to UN estimates, has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and pushed millions more to the brink of famine. Enditem

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