YEMEN'S suffering will not be eased by any sudden cessation in the current round of fighting.

According to UN officials, even if the war were to end during the holy month of Ramadan. which finishes on July 17, the country is "only one step away from famine". Latest estimates show that 21 million civilians are at risk from malnutrition and dehydration - some 80 per cent of the population - and urgently require regular supplies of humanitarian aid. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) there have been 4000 reported cases of dengue fever, which is carried by mosquitoes and can be fatal.

"Innocent civilians in Yemen are paying a terrible price," said UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien on Friday. "They face daily airstrikes, shelling and fighting while medical supplies, fuel and food are running out, and basic services have collapsed."

At the same time the World Health Organisation has revealed that 10 out of Yemen's 22 provincial governorates are now classified as facing what is described as "food insecurity at an emergency level", with millions of people vulnerable to further suffering. O'Brien and his team fear that the remaining governorates could easily follow suit unless there is a dramatic improvement in the availability and access to food at prices which people can afford. The increased intensity of the fighting has been followed by a sudden scarcity of staple foods and other essential commodities, especially clean drinking water. In addition to the nutritional and medical problems caused by the shortages, there has been a knock-on effect with livelihoods being disrupted as markets close down and commercial activities come to a standstill.

For a country which was already the poorest in the Arab world this is a desperate situation and the plight of these innocent people has been made much worse by the maritime blockade imposed by the coalition of Sunni states led by Saudi Arabia. As a result of the growing food and fuel shortages, prices of existing stocks have rocketed, leaving US Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to warn last week that: "Yemen's very existence hangs in the balance".

In an attempt to alleviate the current crisis, the UN has released $25 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund to provide urgently needed fuel, water, medicine and food to ease civilian suffering in the war-ravaged country. At the end of last week the UN also launched an international appeal for $1.6 billion, but the move generated little immediate interest in the international community and officials concede that it might be too little and arrive too late to be of any use in the short term. "We should not forget that Yemenis are living under dire conditions and it pains me to witness this ongoing suffering," said the UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed at the conclusion of a press conference in New York.

Last week following talks in Geneva failed to broker a truce to allow aid to be delivered and now argues that nothing practical can be done unless there is an immediate and lasting ceasefire.