After Cholera, outbreak of diphtheria brings disaster in Yemen; over 100 people killed

Sana’a, June 23: Earlier, Yemen was facing the dual attack including civil war and outbreak of cholera. But now apart from Civil war and Cholera, an outbreak of Diptheria is causing a severe threat to Yemen. Notably, over 100 people have been killed so far in war-torn Yemen since last October.

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the diphtheria outbreak has killed at least 105 people in war-torn Yemen since October last year. A total of 2,025 suspected cases of diphtheria have been recorded in 20 of Yemen's 23 provinces, compared to 1,516 suspected diphtheria cases with 84 associated deaths reported on April 3.

Interestingly, Diphtheria, which spreads through sneezing caused by a common cold, has mainly infected children in Yemen. So far, at least 22.2 million people i.e 75 percent of the population of Yemen is in the need of humanitarian assistance.

Cholera Outbreak in Yemen:

Meanwhile, 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. Due to an outbreak of cholera in April last year, 96% parts of Yemen is severely hampered and affected.

Financial aid not fulfilling the need of Yemen:

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.

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.

Civil War:

So far over 10,000 people are killed while millions are displaced due to the civil war erupted in Yemen since the year 2011.

BACKGROUND:

Earlier, in 2011, some 719,377 suspected cases of cholera were recorded in Haiti, and 8,767 people died.