More than 124 000 hit by cholera in Yemen

MOSCOW: The cholera outbreak in Yemen continues to spread, with more than 124 000 cases recorded so far, half of them are children, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) representative in Yemen said yesterday.

“The cholera outbreak in Yemen continues to spread at an alarming speed. Over 124 000 cases have been recorded – almost half of them are children,” Meritxell Relano said.

According to Unicef, a total of 923 Yemenis became victims of the cholera outbreak in the country since late April and children accounted for one quarter of the deaths.

Relano highlighted that the number of the functioning health institutions was limited, while hospitals were struggling to provide proper treatment to the large influx of patients. “The cholera outbreak is overwhelming what remains of Yemen’s conflict-battered health system. Hospitals and treatment centres are struggling to cope with the large number of patients coming in from across the country. Medicines and intravenous fluids are quickly running out,” he added.

The Unicef representative stressed that workers continued to make efforts in responding to the emergency, even receiving no salaries for months. – Sputnik