Cholera in Yemen killed nearly 600 over past month
The United Nations has warned with about 70,000 cholera cases, nearly 600 people in Yemen have been killed over the past month.
The UN agency, which provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries, said on Friday that the already dire situation for children in Yemen was quickly turning into a disaster.
“Cholera doesn’t need a permit to cross a checkpoint or a border, nor does it differentiate between areas of political control”, UNICEF Regional Director, Geert Cappelaere, following his visit to the war-torn country said.
“At the triage in one of the few functioning hospitals I visited, I witnessed harrowing scenes of children who were barely alive – tiny babies weighing less than two kilos – fighting for their lives.
Caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, cholera infection first became epidemic last October and spread until December when it dwindled, but only to worryingly resurface again at the end of April.
Cappelaere added health workers are racing against time to prevent cholera from killing more children. They are dedicated and committed, despite not receiving their salaries in almost nine months.
UNICEF said at least 10,000 cholera cases were reported in the past 72 hours alone.
The country’s Health Ministry has already announced that 19 of a total 22 Yemeni provinces are threatened by the disease.
