Yemen's health authorities on Saturday launched a polio vaccination campaign for more than 4 million children in the north of the war-torn country.

The three-day campaign is supported by the World Health Organization, the UNICEF and other international aid agencies, the local health authorities said in a statement.

The door-to-door immunization targets children under the age of five.

Yemen has been mired in civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour out of the capital Sanaa.

The conflict has brought the impoverished Arab country to the brink of famine and triggered repeated outbreaks of deadly epidemics such as cholera and polio.

The United Nations is trying to resume peace talks between the government and the Houthi rebels to end the more than five years of civil war.