The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Monday that war-torn Yemen is “one step away from famine.”

Stephen O'Brien told the U.N. Security Council that more than 21 million Yemenis – 80 percent of the population – are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance.

O'Brien gave the briefing by telephone from Bahrain, where he has arrived for a 10-day visit that also will include Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He traveled to Yemen earlier this month.

“Over 2 million people are malnourished nationwide, including 370,000 children who are severely malnourished,” O'Brien said. That is an increase of 65 percent compared to the year before the conflict began.

Food prices have surged 20 percent since fighting began last year, and a Saudi-imposed blockade has impaired food deliveries to a country that pre-conflict imported 90 percent of its food stocks.

Worryingly, cholera is starting to appear, with 61 confirmed cases and 1,700 suspected cases. O'Brien said the United Nations and its humanitarian partners are establishing 21 cholera treatment centers, but that they would be insufficient to stop the escalating spread of the disease. Additionally, the humanitarian chief said more than 10,000 children under the age of five have died from preventable diseases.

The U.N. has classified Yemen as a level three emergency – Syria and Iraq are the only other two humanitarian crises rated this severe.

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