Yemen: Cholera Outbreak Soars
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has confirmed that there are currently around 300 000 suspected cases of cholera in Yemen.
The ICRC said in a tweet yesterday that the outbreak in Yemen is continuing to ‘spiral out of control’, leaving 1600 people dead thus far.
The cholera outbreak began in April, and has since spread rapidly throughout the country.
According Robert Mardini, Regional Director for the ICRC for the Middle East, at least 7000 new cases are reported daily. Most of these cases are in Yemen’s capital of Sana’a.
Cholera is a waterborne bacterial disease that can spread rapidly through contaminated water and food. While it is easily treatable, Red Cross and other aid workers in Yemen are struggling to properly treat the disease because of the ongoing conflict in the country.
Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war for the past two years, as the government – backed by Saudi Arabia – continues to fight against the Shiite rebels who control the capital.
This has lead to a complete collapse of the country’s infrastructure, and has caused more than half of Yemen’s hospitals and medical facilities to close, leaving aid workers unable to properly take care of sick patients.
Additionally, according to the UN’s World Food Programme, more than 17 million people in the country are living in hunger and ‘don’t know where their next meal will come from’.
Image credit: Cholera outbreak in Yemen (2017) [online image] sourced on 11 July 2017 at http://www.deccanchronicle.com/world/middle-east/081016/cholera-outbreak-hits-war-torn-yemen-unicef.html
