The cholera outbreak has now spread throughout the country, which is also suffering from armed conflict and a food crisis.
It is crucial that the international community makes a joint effort to ensure that the UN humanitarian appeal is met.
Norway is increasing its humanitarian aid to Yemen by NOK 10 million.
The UN has described the situation in Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster and has estimated that almost 80 % of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance.
Ten million people urgently require live-saving assistance.
Norway therefore supports the efforts of the UN special envoy to get the parties back to the negotiating table as quickly as possible,’ said Mr Brende.
So far this year, Norway has nearly doubled its aid to Yemen, and is providing about NOK 250 million in humanitarian relief.
This includes the amount announced at the donor conference for Yemen in April, as well as additional funds in response to the hunger crisis and the cholera epidemic.
Norway’s support is being channelled through several UN agencies, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and various humanitarian organisations that cooperate with local partners in Yemen.
Norway is also providing funding through the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which has disbursed more than NOK 200 million to Yemen so far in 2017.

Kuwait- UN regards access to water as basic development goal.
(MENAFN – #Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BEIRUT, July 24 (KUNA) — Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in, says a recent UN report.
There is sufficient fresh water on the planet to achieve this.
But due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, every year millions of people, most of them children, die from diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene, said the report released by United Nations Information Centre in Beirut (UNIC Beirut).
Drought afflicts some of the world’s poorest countries, worsening hunger and malnutrition, according to the report.
By 2050, at least one in four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of fresh water, it indicated.
Hydropower is the most important and widely-used renewable source of energy and as of 2011, represented 16 percent of total electricity production worldwide, the report showed.
The State of Kuwait, for instance, suffers a sharp scarcity of natural water resources, and is considered one of the countries that suffer most from sever weather conditions.
Its sole and limited natural water resource is subterranean water.
It serves Lebanon, Syria, #Jordan and Kuwait, and works closely with the UN family in Lebanon.

UN regards access to water as basic development goal.
BEIRUT, July 24 (KUNA) — Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in, says a recent UN report.
There is sufficient fresh water on the planet to achieve this.
But due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, every year millions of people, most of them children, die from diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene, said the report released by United Nations Information Centre in Beirut (UNIC Beirut).
Drought afflicts some of the world’s poorest countries, worsening hunger and malnutrition, according to the report.
By 2050, at least one in four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of fresh water, it indicated.
Hydropower is the most important and widely-used renewable source of energy and as of 2011, represented 16 percent of total electricity production worldwide, the report showed.
The State of Kuwait, for instance, suffers a sharp scarcity of natural water resources, and is considered one of the countries that suffer most from sever weather conditions.
It serves Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Kuwait, and works closely with the UN family in Lebanon.
(end) wsm.mt

North Korea experiencing worst drought in 16 years, UN agency reports.
North Korea is experiencing its worst drought since 2001, prompting officials to fear an increase in food shortage in the communist country that has suffered serious famine for years, a report by a United Nations agency revealed.
It’s production of staple crops such as rice, corn, potatoes and soybeans has been damaged, "threatening food security for a large part of its population," the agency said.
The late arrival of rain in July didn’t help crop production, either.
The decrease in rainfall already falls below the crisis the rogue nation suffered in 2001 when grain production fell an "unprecedented level" of about 2 million tons.
Early harvest in June has already showed a significant decrease in wheat, barley and potatoes — plunging more than 30 percent to 310,000 tons compared to last year’s 450,000 tons.
"Increased food imports, commercial and/or through food aid, would be required during the next three lean months (July to September) until the harvest of the 2017 main season from the end of September to October, in order to ensure adequate food consumption for the most vulnerable people," the agency said.
Without the imports, North Korea faces severe food shortages to feed its citizens.
The World Food Program stepped in to assist what they called the "biggest emergency operation in its history."
The North Korean government has implemented changes to prevent another deadly famine, though years of bad weather has also impeded the country’s recovery.

Two Billion People Don’t Have Access to Clean Water.
United Nations — More than two billion people lack access to clean and safe drinking water, according to a new report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Although significant progress to ensure access to drinking water has been achieved, there is still a long way to go to ensure its quality — deemed free from pollutants and safe for drinking.
While many countries like India have made it a top priority, many others haven’t been able to emphasise the issue yet," Sanjay Wijesekera, Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at UNICEF, told IPS.
This puts lives, especially of young children, at great risk.
Wijesekera added.
A lack of access to clean drinking water is also bad news for hygiene and sanitary levels.
While the global drop in open defecation from 20 to 12 percent between 2000 and 2015 is a welcome fact, the rate of decline, at just .7 percent every year, puts pressure on governments to do more.
Still, some countries like Ethiopia have combatted the issue of open defecation successfully.
Critical building blocks like stronger policies at the government levels and dutiful allocation of funds can go a long way," Wijesekera said.

North Korea, hit by its worst drought in more than 15 years, is facing severe food shortages, said the UN, calling for urgent food imports to stop children from going hungry.
International food aid, especially from South Korea and the United States, has been drastically cut over the past decade amid soaring tensions over the country’s nuclear arms and missile programs, reported Agence France-Presse.
"Immediate interventions are needed to support affected farmers and prevent undesirable coping strategies for the most vulnerable, such as reducing daily food intakes," Martin added.
The North has periodically been hit by famine in recent decades, with hundreds of thousands of people dying in the mid-to-late 1990s during a period known in the country as the Arduous March.
Even in good years, more than 40 percent of the population is categorized by the UN as undernourished.
But rainfall in the first half of this year has been far below the levels of 2001, when a particularly bad drought caused the country’s cereal crop production to hit unprecedented lows.
In some key agricultural provinces, rainfall from April to June was 50 per cent below average.
Mismanagement is widely blamed for food shortages in an impoverished country, while critics point to the nation’s vast expenditure on its nuclear and missile programs, at the cost of investment in agriculture.
Frequent floods and droughts, as well as a lack of quality soil, seeds, fertilizer and equipment, are also to blame.
Production of 2017 early season crops has plunged by over 30 percent, from the previous year’s level of 450 000 tonnes to 310, 000 tonnes, the FAO report said.

U.N. Agency Reports Worst Drought in 16 Years in North Korea.
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea is suffering its worst drought in 16 years, a United Nations agency reported on Friday, raising fears of worsening food shortages in the country, where children and other vulnerable groups have suffered malnutrition for years.
North Korea’s production of staple crops for this year, including rice, corn, potatoes and soybeans, has been severely damaged by prolonged dry spells “threatening food security for a large part of its population,” the agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization, said in a report prepared in collaboration with the European Commission’s Joint Research Center.
Seasonal rainfall in the main cereal-producing regions is below that of 2001, when grain production fell to a record low of two million tons, Vincent Martin, the agency’s representative in North Korea, said in a news release.
Because of the drought, the production of early season crops that are harvested in June, including wheat, barley and potatoes, dropped to 310,000 tons, more than 30 percent below last year’s 450,000 tons, it said.
But North Korea did not appear to help itself.
Despite United Nations sanctions, North Korea’s external trade grew by an estimated 4.7 percent to $6.55 billion last year, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, a government-invested organization in South Korea, said on Friday.
North Korea’s trade with China grew 6.1 percent to $6 billion last year, the agency said.
China accounts for more than 90 percent of the North’s external trade.
Also on Friday, South Korea’s central bank, the Bank of Korea, said that the North Korean economy grew by an estimated 3.9 percent last year.

(CNN)North Korea is heading for its worst drought since 2001, the United Nations has warned, raising the possibility of increased food shortages in the rogue state.
"More rains are urgently needed to avoid significant decreases in the main 2017 cereal production season," a report by the UN Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Thursday.
North Korea is still recovering from a deadly famine in the late 1990s, and the UN’s World Food Programme estimates 70% of the country’s 25 million people still don’t eat a "sufficiently diverse diet."
Now a prolonged period of dry weather, falling over North Korea’s important growing season of April to June, has put their staple crops of rice and maize at risk.
"Seasonal rainfall in main cereal producing areas have been below the level of 2001, when cereal production dropped to the unprecedented level of only two million tonnes," Vincent Martin, FAO representative in China and North Korea, said in a statement.
Lee said any further food shortage would fall during North Korea’s lean season, during the time between harvests.
"Then on top of the drought, they may get some monsoon flooding when it does start to rain.
The UN organization called for immediate assistance for the country’s farmer and general population, including irrigation equipment and food aid.
North Korea and the international community have a long history of exchanging food aid for concessions in the rogue state’s weapons program.
Lee said there was likely to be a call from the UN’s World Food Programme for donations to make up any shortfall in North Korea.

North Korean children face hunger amid worst drought since 2001.
The isolated communist state, which partly relies on food aid, will likely need increased imports this year.
North Korea’s production of staple crops for 2017 – including rice, maize, potatoes and soybean – has been severely damaged by extended drought conditions, the United Nations’ food security agency warned on Thursday.
Harvest shortfall expected Production of this year’s early season crops plunged by over 30 percent from the previous year’s level of 450,000 tons to 310,000 tons, the FAO estimated.
The FAO called on donor nations to commit to increased food aid – which has fallen sharply in recent years – despite the prospect of further international sanctions and other measures against the secretive communist state.
"Immediate interventions are needed to support affected farmers and prevent undesirable coping strategies for the most vulnerable, such as reducing daily food intakes," said Vincent Martin, FAO Representative in China and DPR Korea in a statement.
Some relief was provided by the arrival of rains in early July, but researchers said they were too late to allow normal planting of the main season crops, which will be harvested in the fall.
The FAO’s Martin said farmers now need irrigation equipment and other machinery urgently to prevent a major longer-term disruption to food supplies.
North Korea suffered a devastating famine in the 1990s and has relied on international food aid to feed many of its 25 million people.
The latest FAO report was prepared with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre.

North Korea drought: Children at risk in ‘worst crisis since 2001’.
North Korea is facing severe food shortages after being hit by its worst drought since 2001, a report from the United Nations says.
Crop production in the country has been hampered by a prolonged dry period and food imports are now urgently required to fill the gap, the UN has warned.
The harvesting of crops from the early season, including wheat, barley and potatoes, has also been affected, the FAO said.
Inefficient food production means that large parts of the North Korean population face malnutrition or death.
As key crop planting and production periods for 2017 elapse, the country requires food imports for at least the next three months to ensure that it has an adequate supply, the FAO said.
The cumulative effects of flooding, combined with inefficient food production, have led to a stagnation in the country’s ability to deal with food shortages and malnutrition.
North Korea suffered serious famine in the 1990s.
That year, the agency said it planned to provide aid to about a third of the population, or nearly seven-and-a-half million people.
In 2001, after North Korea suffered its worst winter in 50 years, the country faced a serious lack of corn and wheat.