A Turkish aid agency has provided food aid for disabled children in Yemen's Aden province.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) distributed 500 food aid packages to disabled children at a nursing and rehabilitation center for disabled people.

In a ceremony marking the aid's distribution, AFAD's Yemen representative, Burhan Aslan, said it was part of AFAD's aid campaign in Yemen to distribute a total of 4,500 food aid packages in six provinces.

Also speaking at the ceremony, Yemen's High Relief Committee General Coordinator Jamal Bilfakeh thanked Turkey under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, AFAD and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) for providing help to the Yemeni people.

Bilfakeh said it marks the first time that a foreign aid agency has distributed aid to disabled children in Yemen and brought smiles to their faces.

Impoverished Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign - which still remains underway - against the rebels.

Embattled with famine amid the ongoing conflict, Yemen

depends on humanitarian aid from abroad. As part of a nationwide aid campaign, Turkish charities collected more than TL 20 million ($3.77 million) in donations for Yemen. The Turkish Red Crescent, AFAD and the Presidency of Religious Affairs (DİB) are spearheading the campaign "Give Hope to Yemen."

United Nations officials say the war has caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with millions suffering from severe hunger.

Turkey, which holds the rotating presidency of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) supports the U.N. efforts to establish peace and stability in Yemen.

The country had already donated humanitarian aid worth $11.7 million to Yemen between 2015 and 2018 and transferred $1 million in cash to the U.N. children's organization UNICEF for use in humanitarian aid in Yemen

.