RIYADH, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on Monday to provide 200 million U.S. dollars funding to Yemen, Saudi Press Agency reported.

The funding is urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of Yemen as part of a 500-million-dollars donation of "Imdaad" initiative announced in November 2018.

This joint humanitarian initiative comes in cooperation with the United Nations agencies: 140 million dollars to the World Food Programme to bridge the funding gap for food needs; 40 million dollars to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to address sanitation issues and malnutrition among children and mothers; and 20 million dollars to the World Health Organization (WHO) to help control cholera and to provide intravenous feeding fluids.

This program is one of the many extensive initiatives implemented by both countries through the UN and other international and Yemeni civil society organizations.

The financial contributions of the coalition countries involved in a war in Yemen against Houthi militias, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in support of Yemen over the past four years total more than 18 billion dollars.