Yemen Cholera Epidemic Set To Become Largest-Ever Outbreak; Disease, War More Seriously Affecting Children

Foreign Policy: Yemen’s Man-Made Cholera Outbreak Is About to Break a Record
“…At last count on Oct. 1, Yemen had 777,229 suspected cases of cholera, with the death toll at 2,134 people, according to the World Health Organization. Soon, Yemen will surpass Haiti, which has documented about 815,000 cholera cases. In Haiti, however, the outbreak began in 2010 and has taken seven years to reach that figure. In Yemen, it has taken only about six months to reach those alarmingly high numbers…” (De Luce, 10/9).

New York Times: 2 Paths for Yemen’s War-Scarred Children: Combat, or Marriage
“…Yemen is a country in crisis. After more than two years of war, its infrastructure has been badly damaged and its people impoverished, with hundreds of thousands sickened with cholera. But hidden among the numbing statistics of death and destruction is another insidious scourge: Desperate families are increasingly selling their daughters off as child brides or letting their boys be recruited as child soldiers…” (Youssef/Hubbard, 10/9).

Reuters: Cholera claims unborn children as epidemic spreads Yemen misery
“…Two and a half years of war have sapped Yemen of the money and medical facilities it needs to battle [cholera], to which aid agencies and medics say the poor, the starving, the pregnant, and the young are most vulnerable. The cholera ward is full of children — some writhing in agony, others eerily still…” (Zeyad, 10/9).

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