Cholera epidemic that hit Yemen with over 200,000 cases in just two months may be slowing - WHO

Record ID: 896010

  • Title: Cholera epidemic that hit Yemen with over 200,000 cases in just two months may be slowing - WHO
  • Date: 27th June 2017
  • Summary: SANAA, YEMEN (JUNE 27, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERED AROUND WHO HOSPITAL TENT VARIOUS OF MOTHERS WITH THEIR CHILDREN INSIDE WHO MEDICAL TENT WHILE THEY RECEIVE TREATMENT VARIOUS OF CHILDREN IN MOTHER'S ARMS VARIOUS OF CHILDREN CRYING AS THEY RECEIVE TREATMENT VARIOUS CHILDREN CRYING VARIOUS OF DOCTORS CHECKING CHILDREN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CHILD SPECIALIST, DOCTOR ISMAIL AL MANSOURY, SAYING: "The influx of patients to the hospital is huge and as you know, the amount of suspected cases has reached 200,000 and the more than 2000 deaths." VARIOUS OF CHILDREN ON DRIPS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CHILD SPECIALIST, DOCTOR ISMAIL AL MANSOURY, SAYING: "Here in the Sab'een hospital's cholera ward, we receive countless patients every day; and we are working around the clock, we receive two, three to four cases every minute, which is a huge number. We are suffering from a lack of medication to face this epidemic." HODEIDAH, YEMEN (JUNE 26, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HOSPITAL WARD WITH CHILDREN RECEIVING TREATMENT/ TODDLERS ON BEDS/ CHILDREN WITH CATHETERS IN ARMS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EPIDEMIC FORECASTING DIRECTOR DR. MOHAMED AL FAQEEH, SAYING: "The health conditions in Hodeidah are not the best because we don't have enough resources and we are receiving from 500 to 600 patients every day." VARIOUS OF PATIENTS IN WARD WAITING VARIOUS OF FAMILIES SITTING WITH THEIR CHILDREN WHILE THEY RECEIVE TREATMENT
  • Embargoed: 11th July 2017 17:57
  • Keywords: Cholera outbreak Sanaa Hodeidah children U.N. field hospitals
  • Location: SANAA AND HODEIDAH, YEMEN
  • City: SANAA AND HODEIDAH, YEMEN
  • Country: Yemen
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016N214QV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: An unprecedented cholera outbreak in Yemen may have reached the halfway mark after hitting 218,798 cases two months after it began, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday (June 27).
    Two years into a devastating civil war between a Saudi-led coalition and Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, Yemen was a perfect breeding ground for the disease, which spreads by faeces getting into food or water and thrives in places with poor sanitation.
    Child specialist, Doctor Ismail El Mansoury of the Sab'een hospital in Sanaa, said the number of cases admitted to the wards was huge and that they faced a lack of medication. Mansoury said the outbreak had already claimed 2,000 lives.
    Soon after the outbreak began, the WHO saw a risk that it could affect 300,000 people within six months. Although most of Yemen's health infrastructure is not functioning and health workers have not been paid for more than six months, the WHO is paying "incentives" to medics to staff an emergency cholera network, with treatment centres of 50-60 beds each open around the clock.
    Oral rehydration points, whose job is to catch cholera cases before they become severe, have had the most impact. The WHO is aiming for 2,800 such sites, and the results are visible in the fatality rates, which show almost all governorates reporting daily deaths in single figures, or even zero.
    A map of the outbreak shows that the worst hit areas are largely in areas controlled by the Houthi rebels. The top cholera blackspots are Amanat al-Asimah, around the capital Sanaa, the port region of Hodeidah, and Hajjah governorate.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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