Post by Origanalist on May 20, 2017 5:43:13 GMT -8
Yemen facing unprecedented cholera outbreak as Trump brokers weapons deals in Saudi Arabia
The World Health Organization has warned that the current outbreak of cholera in Yemen is spreading with unprecedented speed.
On Friday, May 19, WHO estimated more than 240 people have died from cholera in the last three weeks, out of a total of 23,400 people infected.
Just a week earlier, Yemen’s health ministry put the number of dead at 115, and the suspected number of cases at 8,595 in the same period. That number was nearly four times more than the 2,300 cases reported on May 9.
“I have to admit that when I see the data that I saw this morning, not officially released; are really taking us by surprise. The speed of the resurgence of the cholera epidemic is unprecedented,” UN News quoted Dr. Nevio Zagaria, WHO representative in Yemen, as saying on Friday.
Zagaria warned there could be 300,000 cholera cases within six months.
Dwindling medical capacity
WHO explained that the current cholera outbreak can be traced back to one in October.
Cases of the disease spiked in December and then dissipated but never fully went away, and Yemen’s capacity for dealing with a disease like cholera has been ravaged by more than two years of war.
Public hospitals, including those run by charities like Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders) have been hit and destroyed by Saudi coalition airstrikes. MSF says it clearly identifies hospitals and routinely shares the GPS coordinates of several medical facilities with the Saudi-led coalition, sometimes days before they were hit.
continued www.grasswire.com/2017/05/yemen-facing-unprecedented-cholera-health-outbreak-as-president-donald-trump-brokers-weapons-deals-in-saudi-arabia/
The World Health Organization has warned that the current outbreak of cholera in Yemen is spreading with unprecedented speed.
On Friday, May 19, WHO estimated more than 240 people have died from cholera in the last three weeks, out of a total of 23,400 people infected.
Just a week earlier, Yemen’s health ministry put the number of dead at 115, and the suspected number of cases at 8,595 in the same period. That number was nearly four times more than the 2,300 cases reported on May 9.
“I have to admit that when I see the data that I saw this morning, not officially released; are really taking us by surprise. The speed of the resurgence of the cholera epidemic is unprecedented,” UN News quoted Dr. Nevio Zagaria, WHO representative in Yemen, as saying on Friday.
Zagaria warned there could be 300,000 cholera cases within six months.
Dwindling medical capacity
WHO explained that the current cholera outbreak can be traced back to one in October.
Cases of the disease spiked in December and then dissipated but never fully went away, and Yemen’s capacity for dealing with a disease like cholera has been ravaged by more than two years of war.
Public hospitals, including those run by charities like Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders) have been hit and destroyed by Saudi coalition airstrikes. MSF says it clearly identifies hospitals and routinely shares the GPS coordinates of several medical facilities with the Saudi-led coalition, sometimes days before they were hit.
continued www.grasswire.com/2017/05/yemen-facing-unprecedented-cholera-health-outbreak-as-president-donald-trump-brokers-weapons-deals-in-saudi-arabia/