Half a Million Cholera Cases in Yemen

[image: almasdarnews.com]Yemenis are threatened by endless war, famine, cholera, and other horrendous issues, horrors approaching biblical proportions, the lives of millions endangered.

Continuing to spiral out of control, the cholera epidemic is the worst in memory. US orchestrated/Saudi aggression devastated Yemen’s infrastructure – resulting in minimal or lack of available medical treatment for millions.

Creating a perfect storm for the cholera outbreak, it continues spreading like wildfire, thousands of new cases reported daily, many others likely unreported.

On August 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the number of suspected cholera cases reached half a million – around 2,000 known deaths so far from the disease, likely many more unreported.

According to the WHO, cases declined from peak July numbers in some areas, but continue raging nationwide, “spreading fast in more recently affected districts…infecting an estimated 5,000 people per day.”

Poor hygiene, devastated sanitary conditions, millions of people without access to clean water, and lack of waste collection caused the outbreak, letting it spread rapidly.

Most Yemeni health facilities can’t operate because of destruction, damage, lack of funding, and shortages of everything needed to treat the ill and injured.

Health professionals and support staff haven’t been paid in nearly a year. According to WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom:

“Yemen’s health workers are operating in impossible conditions. Thousands of people are sick, but there are not enough hospitals, not enough medicines, not enough clean water.”

“These doctors and nurses are the backbone of the health response. Without them we can do nothing in Yemen. They must be paid their wages so that they can continue to save lives.”

Most Yemenis ill from cholera can be cured if properly treated in time, impossible for countless numbers in the war-torn nation, conflict continuing daily for nearly two-and-a-half years with no end in sight.

“To save lives in Yemen today we must support the health system, especially the health workers. And we urge the Yemeni authorities – and all those in the region and elsewhere who can play a role – to find a political solution to this conflict that has already caused so much suffering,” said Tedros.

“The people of Yemen cannot bear it much longer. They need peace to rebuild their lives and their country” – what’s not forthcoming.

Trump, his hawkish administration generals and Saudi war lords want conflict, mass slaughter and destruction continued.

Millions of Yemenis are at risk from war, related violence, famine, cholera, other diseases, and inadequate or absence of essentials to life and welfare.

Worst on Record Cholera Epidemic in Yemen

Obama’s war on Yemen, escalated by Trump, bears full responsibility for what Oxfam calls the worst outbreak of cholera “ever recorded in any country in a single year.”

Since April, they’ve been over 360,000 known cases, likely many more not officially reported, numbers rising exponentially.

By end of summer, they could double because of devastating war, creating conditions for the outbreak and spread of the disease.

It’s an infection of the small intestine, caused by contaminated food or water.

Symptoms include uncontrolled watery diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration, rapid heart rate, and abdominal cramps, among others. Untreated severe cases can cause death.

Over two years of US-supported Saudi terror-bombing targeted residential areas, hospitals and medical clinics, mosques, schools, food storage areas, and other civilian targets.

Yemen, the region’s poorest country in more normal times, is devastated by naked aggression, cholera and other diseases, famine and overall deprivation – the world community doing virtually nothing to stop the carnage.

Arms makers love it, profiting from genocide, destruction and human misery.

There’s no end of it in sight, civilians harmed most. A Yemeni child dies every 10 minutes from war-related malnutrition and starvation alone – a shocking indictment of imperial viciousness.

Weapons and munitions makers share guilt with America, Riyadh and their warring partners – guilty of the supreme high crime against peace.

Genocide stalks Yemen – terror-bombing and blockade creating famine and rampant diseases as a weapon of war.

Around 2,000 Yemenis died from cholera, according to estimates, likely many more, maybe multiples more than the reported number.

After returning from a fact-finding mission to the country, Oxfam’s humanitarian director Nigel Timmins said the following:

“It is quite frankly staggering that in just three months more people in Yemen have contracted cholera than any country has suffered in a single year since modern records began.”

“Cholera has spread unchecked in a country already on its knees after two years of war and which is teetering on the brink of famine. For many people, weakened by war and hunger, cholera is the knockout blow.”

“This is a massive crisis needing a massive response – if anything, the numbers we have…likely… underestimate the scale of the crisis. So far funding from government donors to pay for the aid effort has been lackluster at best, less than half is what is needed.”

“Cholera is easy to treat and simple to prevent. We need a massive well coordinated effort to get clean water and decent sanitation to people and simple things like soap to keep them safe from disease. We need an end to country entry restrictions of supplies and people so that we can get on with the job.”

“The war has destroyed the economy and left millions without jobs or the means to earn a living and forced 3 million people to flee their homes.”

“It has precipitated a crisis which has left 7 million people on the brink of starvation. And the war has destroyed or damaged more than half the country’s health facilities and ushered in one of the world’s worst cholera outbreaks in over 50 years.”

“Vital public servants such as health workers have not been paid for nearly a year. Hospitals, ports, roads and bridges have been bombed. All this is crippling efforts to tackle the cholera crisis.”

“Those countries providing the arms and military support, such as the US and the UK, are fueling a war that is causing widespread suffering and tipping a whole nation towards a catastrophe.”

“It is hard to imagine how much more Yemen can take before it collapses entirely.”

Explaining the horror of conditions doesn’t get more stark than that. The death toll is likely multiples more than officially reported, mostly affecting civilians, the scale of human suffering beyond what words can explain.

All essentials to life are in short supply or unavailable to millions. Most Yemenis have no access to clean water and sanitation. Millions face potential starvation.

The only viable solution is ending devastating war, carnage and blockade. Otherwise millions of Yemenis could perish if ongoing horrors continue endlessly.

Cholera Ravages Yemen

[image: A Yemeni child suspected of being infected with cholera is treated at a hospital in Sanaa.
Mohammed Huwais/Getty Images]Multiple plagues of Job ravage millions of Yemenis, including devastating US-planned and orchestrated war, famine, and untreated diseases, out-of-control cholera epidemic alone taking a devastating toll.

Known outbreaks exceeded 300,000 as of June 30, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The UN currently reported over 320,000 outbreaks in all governorates except one.

The ICRC said the epidemic “continues to spiral out of control,” known deaths more than 1,700, according to its spokeswoman Iolanda Jaquemet.

Its regional director Robert Mardini said about 7,000 new cases are known daily in Sanaa and three other areas alone.

Yemen’s collapsed infrastructure, including minimal or lack of medical treatment for millions, created a “perfect storm for cholera,” the WHO explained.

According to UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs Stephen O’brien, the rampant disease is “a direct result” of Saudi aggression – complicit with Washington.

O’Brien calls what’s ongoing a foreign-sponsored “cholera scandal…entirely man-made by” naked aggression devastating the country – compounded by famine conditions affecting half the population.

Two-thirds of Yemenis are food insecure, struggling with hunger and malnutrition, unsure where their next meal is coming from.

O’Brien explained “Yemen is facing critical stoppages of hospitals and a lack of doctors and nurses.”

“The health system has essentially collapsed, with an estimated 55 per cent of facilities closed due to damage, destruction or lack of funds.”

“Some 30,000 health care workers have not been paid in nearly a year, and no funding has been provided to keep basic infrastructure such as hospitals, water pumping and sanitation stations operating.”

Millions face famine conditions, “vulnerable to disease…at risk of a slow and painful death.” Over half the population has no access safe and adequate water, sanitation and hygiene.

International aid organizations can’t cope with the crisis because of war and inadequate resources, most donor pledges not fulfilled.

Appalling conditions threaten the lives of millions. One Yemeni child dies every 10 minutes from war-related starvation.

One Yemeni dies almost every hour from cholera. Since Saudi terror-bombing and blockade began in March 2015, thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of Yemenis perished from naked aggression on their country.

Millions suffer from devastation, disease and famine conditions. Media scoundrels largely ignore the ongoing horror – no coverage at all about US responsibility for what’s happening. Trump is captive to dark forces running America.

Cholera Hits Yemen

(image: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah)

During conflict-free times, Yemenis are the region’s poorest people, struggling daily to get by.

Since Bush/Cheney launched drone war on the country, continued by Obama and Trump, hugely exacerbated by US/Saudi terror war and blockade, a humanitarian catastrophe unequaled anywhere else exists, potentially millions of Yemenis at risk of perishing if things aren’t resolved.

And now cholera, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It’s an infection of the small intestine, caused by contaminated food or water.

Symptoms include uncontrolled watery diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration, rapid heart rate, and abdominal cramps, among others. Untreated severe cases can cause death.

In recent weeks according to the WHO, at least dozens of Yemenis perished from the disease. Over 2,700 suspected cases occurred – perhaps many more cholera-related deaths and illnesses than known or officially reported.

Terror-bombing, including on hospitals and medical clinics, as well as blockade prevents the availability of medical supplies, equipment and proper treatment for countless numbers of ill, injured, malnourished and starving Yemenis.

The WHO said it’s “distribut(ing) medicines and medical supplies, including cholera kits, oral rehydration solutions and intravenous (IV) fluids as well as medical furniture and equipment for diarrhoea treatment centres.”

“Ten new treatment centres are being established in affected areas. WHO is also supporting health authorities to establish oral rehydration therapy corners to treat mild and moderate dehydration due to diarrhoea.”

“Starting with 10 oral rehydration therapy corners in Sana’a, this approach will be replicated across all affected areas. More severe cases will be referred to the diarrhea treatment centres.”

Given daily Saudi terror-bombing and blockade, preventing enough food from reaching starving people, it’s unclear how effective WHO efforts can be, especially for a severely malnourished population, more vulnerable illness and disease.

Millions of Yemenis have poor or no access to medical treatment, unknown numbers likely perishing from various undiagnosed diseases and wounds sustained from war-related violence.

Yemen’s healthcare system is weak and inadequate. In many areas, proper sanitation is nonexistent. Pathogens causing cholera spread more easily in warm, rainy weather.

Last October, Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health and Population announced the cholera outbreak. The WHO estimates around 7.6 million people live in areas with high risk of the disease’s occurrence and transmission.

According to its representative in Yemen Dr. Nevio Zagaria, “(w)e are very concerned with the re-emergence of cholera across several areas of Yemen in the past couple of weeks. Efforts must be scaled-up now to contain the outbreak and avoid a dramatic increase in cases of diarrhoeal disease.”

“WHO is in full emergency mode to contain the recent upsurge of suspected cholera cases. Containing the spread of the outbreak is a high priority for WHO, and we are coordinating efforts with all parties and with our health, water and sanitation partners to scale up an integrated and effective response to the cholera epidemic.”

Containing the outbreak is more a political than medical issue. As long as war and blockade continue, the ability to provide healthcare will be severely limited – largely unavailable for millions of Yemenis.