Humanitarian Aid Seen As Essential To Curb Yemen’s Cholera Epidemic, Now Largest Worldwide

Associated Press: Yemen’s civil war turns country into cholera breeding ground
“…Yemen’s raging two-year conflict has turned the country into an incubator for lethal cholera: primitive sanitation and water systems put Yemenis at risk of drinking feces-contaminated water; wells are dirtied by runoff from rainfall on piles of garbage left uncollected for weeks; farmland is irrigated with broken sewers due to lax oversight and corruption; medical intervention is delayed due to unpaid government employees and half of the country’s health facilities are out of service…” (Al-Haj/Michael, 8/10).

The Guardian: Yemen: aid offers ‘only hope of survival’ in cholera epidemic, says Priti Patel
“Humanitarian aid is ‘the only hope Yemeni people have to survive,’ said the U.K. development minister, Priti Patel. She warned Yemen is ‘on the brink of catastrophic disaster’ unless the international community follows Britain’s lead to stem the cholera epidemic…” (Hodal, 8/11).

Washington Post: War, hunger and now cholera: Yemen’s crisis worsens
“…Today, the number of suspected cholera cases in Yemen has reached half a million and nearly 2,000 people have died, the WHO recently reported. It is now the largest cholera epidemic in the world. Only a few years ago, the waterborne disease had been nearly eradicated in Yemen…” (Raghavan, 8/27).

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