Coalition fights cholera in Yemen
aabu dhabi — The coalition forces are working shoulder to shoulder with humanitarian players in Yemen to curb cholera outbreaks in the war-ravaged country, a UAE minister has said.
Three rounds of immunisation in Hodeida have already been conducted since August this year, Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, told a conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
“The first round of vaccinations was conducted on August 4, 5 and 6. We needed two extra days for more coverage and the coalition was very open for providing those days of harmony to make sure over 4,000 people got vaccinated in the Hodeida area and in governance south of that,” said Al Hashimy.
The second round of cholera vaccination was conducted between September 22 and 25, while the third round took place two weeks ago, the minister told a conference of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, that aims to fund and immunise vulnerable population across the world.
Yemen is facing the worst global cholera outbreak with a surge in cases since April 2017 due to the ongoing conflict between the Arab coalition-supported Yemeni government and Houthi rebels. The conflict has
pushed the poorest Arab country into the worst humanitarian situation with the total collapse of its health infrastructure, inflation and unemployment. More than five million children risk famine in this war-torn country that has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people.
Reiterating the UAE’s support to the Yemeni people, the minister said humanitarian situation in Yemen has remained fragile for many years. “The biggest challenge is access to food. There is food in Yemen but there is challenge of getting that food to those in need.”
Gavi CEO Dr Seth Berkley said his organisation has recently managed to get cholera vaccines out to prevent another round of outbreak in Hodeida. He said Gavi has been able to “negotiate with both sides to have a conference on how to strengthen the health system and increase immunisation to children on both sides of the line”.
Gavi has shipped more than 3.1 million doses of oral cholera vaccine to Yemen since the beginning of 2017 with the aim of immunising over 1.5 million people. Yemen has received more than $250 million in Gavi support since 2011.
Pinning his hope on the ongoing UN-brokered negotiations between the two warring sides, Berkley said: “It obviously requires peace to get to its full potential and show that it is able to build trust to moving towards peace. We will do everything possible to provide vaccines. But that alone will not resolve this crisis.”
Lauding the UAE’s support to Gavi, board chair Dr Ngozi OkonjoIweala said over 700 million children have been immunised and 10 million lives have been saved thanks to the efforts made by Gavi, the Vaccine alliance, in which the UAE plays an important role.
“By 2020, we will immunise 300 million more children that will save 5-6 million more lives. This is a very big target. We believe we will achieve this goal.”
Gavi’s mid-term review conference in Abu Dhabi brought together government leaders and private and public partners to review progress and challenges in achieving its set target for 2016-2020 to improve access to immunisation in the world’s poorest countries.
The biggest challenge is access to food. There is food in Yemen but there is challenge of getting that food to those in need.” Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation We will do everything possible to provide vaccines. But that alone will not resolve this quite severe humanitarian crisis.” Dr Seth Berkley, Gavi CEO