UN praise for Yemen’s unsung heroes in battle against cholera

Thousands of “unsung local heroes” were praised for easing Yemen’s cholera epidemic over the past two months.

The United Nations’ children’s fund said yesterday that thanks to the efforts of thousands of Yemeni volunteers, backed by UN agencies, the weekly number of suspected new cases of cholera had fallen by a third since the end of June.

The UN has called Yemen the “largest humanitarian crisis in the world”.

The collapse of Yemen’s infrastructure after more than two years of war allowed the country’s cholera epidemic to become the worst in the world.

A Saudi-led coalition, including the UAE, is fighting Iranbacked Houthi rebels to restore the internationally recognised government of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi.

On August 14, the World Health Organisation said that cholera was believed to have affected more than 500,000 people and killed nearly 2,000 in Yemen since late April. Unicef said more than half the suspected cases were children.

“Amid the suffering, ordinary Yemenis are leading a heroic daily fight against acute watery diarrhoea and cholera, which is now paying off,” the fund said. “Collective efforts to treat the sick and improve water and sanitation systems have helped to slow the spread of the disease.”

About 8,400 people have been killed and 48,000 wounded since the civil war broke out.

Further report, page 4