Shocking! Death toll in Yemen due to cholera mounts to 2,250

Sana’a, March 7: The death toll in Yemen has mounted to 2,250 due to waterborne disease cholera and the suspected cases have reached over 1,060,000. Notably, Yemen is still suffering from the dual attack i.e civil war and another one from the outbreak of cholera due to which 75 percent of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance.

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) in a statement said, “Since April 2017 to February 2018, more than 1,060,000 suspected cases of cholera and 2,250 deaths have been reported in Yemen.” The WHO further added that this is the biggest cholera outbreak in recent history.

Due to an outbreak of cholera in April last year, 96% parts of Yemen is severely hampered and affected. The strategic Red Sea port city of Hudaydah, which is under Houthi control, has the highest number of cases with over 143,000 while the island of Socotra is the only area that has not witnessed a cholera outbreak.

On the other side, Hajjah province has had the highest number of cholera deaths with 417. 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.

Though the International Community including WHO and United Nations is leading from the front in providing aid to Yemen, 60 percent of Yemenis are yet food insecure and 16 million people do not have access to safe water and proper sanitation. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has pledged $11 million to tackle the cholera epidemic in Yemen.

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.