Cholera deaths in Yemen rise to 242, says the UN

A quarter of a million people may fall ill by year end

GENEVA // A cholera outbreak in Yemen has killed 242 people and made about 23,500 people ill in the past three weeks, said the World Health Organisation yesterday.

In the past day, 20 cholera deaths and 3,460 suspected cases had been registered in the country, where two thirds of the population are on the brink of famine, said the United Nations health agency.

“The speed of the resurgence of this cholera epidemic is unprecedented,” said Nevio Zagaria, the WHO’s country representative for Yemen. He said that 250,000 people could become sick by the end of the year.

Cholera is a highly contagious bacterial infection spread through contaminated food or water. It causes sudden onset of acute diarrhoea and can kill within hours, although three quarters of infected people show no symptoms.

The short incubation period means outbreaks can spread swiftly , especially in places without safe water and proper sanitation.

Reining in the disease is complicated in Yemen, where two years of war between the Houthi rebels and forces of the government backed by the Saudi-led Arab military coalition has left more than half the country’s medical facilities out of service.

Mr Zagaria said that humanitarian workers could not access parts of Yemen, and that the number of suspected cholera cases could be far higher than those registered.

Yemen’s conflict has killed more than 8,000 people and wounded about 40,000 since March 2015, said the WHO.

Many of the remaining health workers in Yemen have not been paid for seven months.

Meanwhile, the lack of electricity meant that water pumping stations were only functioning intermittently, and the sewer systems were damaged, said Mr Zagaria.

“The population is using water sources that are contaminated,” he said. Cholera cases were overwhelming Yemen’s remaining hospitals, but it would be better to treat them in specialised centres, 50 of which are already operating, along with 300 oral rehydration points, said Mr Zagaria. But such numbers were too few.

He said UN agencies were preparing to “release an emergency response cholera plan in the next 48 hours”, aimed at increasing the number of treatment centres and rehydration centres.

At the same time, there was a strong need for funding to help the authorities to make the necessary infrastructure repairs, Mr Zagaria said.

“The spread of the disease is too big and they need substantial support, in terms of repairing the sewer system, and treating and chlorinating the water sources.”

Without dramatic efforts to halt the spread of cholera, “the price that we will pay in terms of life will be extremely high”, Mr Zagaria said.