WHO warns of increased cholera epidemic in Yemen during the rainy season

YemenExtra

SH.A.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) warned Monday that a cholera epidemic in Yemen that has killed more than 2,000 people could re-erupt in the rainy season.

“The number of cases of cholera has declined in Yemen in the last 20 months after reaching the threshold of one million suspected cases of the disease,” said Peter Salama, WHO deputy director general for the health emergency program.

“But the real problem is that we are entering another rainy season”Salama said.

“Cholera cases usually increase in accordance with these rainy seasons. So we expect an increase in April and another potential increase in August. ”

Yemen relies heavily on food imports and is on the verge of famine. The United Nations says more than 22 million of Yemen’s 25 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, including 11.3 million people in desperate need of such assistance.

Salama said Yemen had also seen an outbreak of diphtheria, which usually affects children and can be prevented through vaccination and developed countries have largely eliminated it.

He added that the outbreak of cholera and diphtheria was caused by damage to the health system in Yemen. Less than half of Yemen’s health facilities are fully operational.

Although more than 2,000 people died of cholera, the death rate has dropped by 0.2 to 0.3 percent, he said.

He added that the World Health Organization has obtained the approval of the government to carry out vaccination campaigns .