At least 96% parts of Yemen is affected severely due to disastrous outbreak of cholera

NewsBharati    30-Nov-2017
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Sana’a, November 12: Yemen is still suffering from the dual attack i.e civil war and another one from the outbreak of cholera. Due to an outbreak of cholera, 96% parts of Yemen is severely hampered and effected as the death toll has surged to 2,219 while suspected cholera cases have reached to 9,62,536.

 

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report released on Wednesday said that at least 962,536 suspected cases of cholera have been reported in war-torn Yemen since April 27. Over the same period, the report goes on to note, 2,219 cholera-related deaths have been documented in 22 out of Yemen’s 23 provinces.

However, the highest number of suspected cases was reported in Yemen’s western Al-Hudeidah province, while the highest number of cholera-related deaths was reported in the northwestern Hajjah province. Yemen’s Socotra province is the only part of the country to have remained entirely unaffected by cholera.

Yemen’s four most affected governorates are Amanat Al Asimah, Al Hudaydah, Amran and Hajjah with 59% of the cases reported since 27 April 2017. Amran and Al Mahwit governorates had the highest attack rates and Raymah governorate the highest case fatality ratio.

Also, the fatality case rates have gone by 0.35%. Children and the elderly are the affected at the worst as more than 44% of the suspected cases since the outbreak and a quarter of the deaths are children, while old people represent 39% of fatalities.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, more than 3 million Yemenis have been forced to flee their homes since the conflict began, while more than 20 million are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Interestingly, with over 20 million people dependent on aid, Yemen is the world's single largest humanitarian crisis, now made even worse with the outbreak of cholera. Less than half the country’s hospitals are running and less than a third of the needed medicines are available due to which conditions are getting worst.

BACKGROUND:

In 2011, some 719,377 suspected cases of cholera were recorded in Haiti, and 8,767 people died, according to national figures cited by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. An epidemic late last year faded but outbreaks are frequent and made worse by the degrading of health and sanitation systems by more than two years of civil war that has also killed at least 10,000 people and displaced millions. Earlier, in 2011, some 719,377 suspected cases of cholera were recorded in Haiti, and 8,767 people died.