- Title: WHO warns Yemen's world largest cholera outbreak may spread in rainy season
- Date: 21st July 2017
- Summary: SANAA, YEMEN (RECENT - JULY 1, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHILD LYING ON HOSPITAL BED RECEIVING TREATMENT ANOTHER CHILD LYING ON HOSPITAL BED GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (JULY 21, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) SPOKESWOMAN, FADELA CHAIB, SAYING: "Yemen cholera outbreak is far from being controlled, the rainy season has just started, and may increase the path of transmission. Sustained efforts are required to stop the spread of this disease." SANAA, YEMEN (RECENT - JULY 1, 2017) (REUTERS) YOUNG GIRL LYING ON BED AND RECEIVING TREATMENT INTRAVENOUS DRIP BAG/ WOMAN RECEIVING TREATMENT CHILD HOLDING RAILING OF HOSPITAL BED AND RECEIVING TREATMENT MAN CARRYING A CHILD FOR TREATMENT AT WHO TENT GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (JULY 21, 2017) (REUTERS) JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS AGENCY SPOKESMAN, RUPERT COLVILLE, SAYING: "The fighting is hugely exacerbating the ability to stop this epidemic of cholera, and also the kind of disintegration of the health system in Yemen, as a result of the conflict, at a time of cholera, is an absolutely lethal combination."
- Embargoed: 4th August 2017 15:58
- Keywords: Yemen cholera WHO rainy season U.N. hospital conflict children
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / HODEIDAH AND SANAA, YEMEN
- City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / HODEIDAH AND SANAA, YEMEN
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA0036QNVT53
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Yemen's world largest cholera outbreak is far from being controlled and may further spread with the rainy season, the World Organization (WHO) warned on Friday (July 21) even if the rate of new cases appears to be slowing down in some hotspots.
The WHO reported 368,207 suspected cases and 1,828 deaths in the Arabian peninsula's poorest country between late April and July 19th. Every day, 5,000 more Yemenis are falling sick with acute watery diarrhea or cholera.
Millions are malnourished in Yemen where famine looms, the United Nations says. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition intervened in Yemen's civil war in 2015, backing government forces fighting Iran-allied Houthi rebels and the fighting has limited access for aid workers.
According to surveillance data gathered in the past two weeks, there has been a slight decline in suspected cases, in some of the most affected governorates of Amanat Al Asimah, Amran and Sana'a, the WHO said.
Britain-based NGO Oxfam projected, on the other hand, that the number of suspected cases of cholera could rise to more than 600,000, making the epidemic "the largest ever recorded in any country in a single year since records began", exceeding Haiti's in 2011.
Oxfam warned that the Yemeni rainy season from July to September would increase the risk of the disease spreading further through water contaminated with faeces. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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