Charity Warns Yemen 'on Brink of New Cholera Epidemic'

TEHRAN (Defapress)- In a press release on Thursday, UK-based Save the Children warned the hot summer months are ideal conditions for cholera to spread rapidly, Al-Jazeera reported.

It added almost 3,000 suspected cholera cases were reported in the first week of July across the country - the highest number since the start of the year.

"Cholera could spread like wildfire in Yemen, potentially infecting thousands of children and completely overwhelming an already-crippled health system," the charity's CEO Helle Thorning-Schmidt stated, noting that "many hospitals have been reduced to rubble, and those that are still standing are barely functioning. Doctors have not been paid, pharmacies are understocked, and power cuts happen constantly".

More than one million people were infected with cholera last year.

Yemen is also now the world's worst humanitarian crisis with more than 22.2 million people in need of assistance. Malnutrition, cholera, and other diseases have killed or sickened thousands of civilians.

The charity was specifically fearful that Hudaydah could become most affected as a Saudi and Emirati-led military coalition fighting Ansarullah in the Northern part of the country threaten to besiege the city.

"Hudaydah ... could become ground zero for a new outbreak of the highly contagious disease," it said.

"Should the port city become besieged it would be devastating for an estimated 350,000 people who have not yet fled," Save the Children added.

According to a doctor working with the charity in Hudaydah, the city is bracing itself for an upsurge in cholera cases.

"We're terrified of another outbreak as the number of cholera cases is increasing day by day," Dr. Mariam Aldogani said, adding that "current conditions mean that it could be difficult to keep the number of cases under control. Water chlorination isn't a durable solution, the summer heat is relentless, there's rubbish lining the streets, and the health system is bursting at the seams".

The war in Yemen is now in its fourth year and has left 11.3 million children in need of humanitarian assistance.

Nearly eight million children are now going hungry every day and more than 80 percent of people rely on aid agencies for essentials such as food and healthcare, according to the charity.

message end/