In his remarks to the Pledging Conference on Yemen, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Yemen “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” saying that more than 22 million people in the country require “humanitarian aid and protection.” He added that around 18 million people are “food insecure; one million more than when we convened last year.” Guterres said that last year, one million people had cholera and watery diarrhoea, and noted that with half of all health facilities shuttered or not properly functioning, there is “a high risk of another cholera epidemic.” According to Guterres, a child under the age of five dies from preventable causes every ten minutes. Moreover, millions of children suffer from acute malnourishment. Almost half of all children between six months and five years “are chronically malnourished and suffer from stunting,” which results in development delays and a diminished ability to learn for the rest of their lives. Guterres said that the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan for Yemen needs $2.96 billion in funding to help more than 13 million people in the country. He added that the humanitarian response has been scaled up “dramatically” in Yemen. At the beginning of 2017, “partners were reaching three million people per month with food assistance.” By August, this figure was seven million people.