Yemen: Cholera Kills 9 as Saudi Siege Blocks Medical Aid
Alwaght– At least 9 people have died of cholera in Yemen as the infectious disease spreads across the country that is under a Saudi imposed siege preventing humanitarian aids to the country.
Ten other people in the southern port city have been diagnosed with the potentially fatal disease which is transmitted through contaminated drinking water and causes acute diarrhea, the health ministry said.
The hospital of the capital Aden received some 190 cases of severe diarrhea and the ministry says 200 cases have been diagnosed around the country. The UN announced an outbreak of the disease this month as the international community is unable to aid the country under daily attacks by Saudi warplanes.
At Least 10,000 Yemenis have been killed since the regime in Riyadh launched its deadly campaign against Yemen in March 2015. The military aggression was meant to restore power to Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh and Yemen’s president who has resigned and fled the capital. Hadi seeks to force his way back into power.
This month, the World Health Organization said it had confirmed 11 cases of cholera in Sanaa. The WHO warned that the scarcity of drinkable water has worsened hygienic conditions and fuelled a marked increase in cases of severe diarrhea, in particular among people displaced from their homes in central Yemen. The UN’s child agency UNICEF said cholera could prove fatal in up to 15 percent of untreated cases.
The agency says nearly three million people in Yemen need immediate food aid, while 1.5 million children suffer from malnutrition, including 370,000 with severe malnutrition that weakens their immune systems