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The Death Toll in Yemen Is So High the Red Cross Has Started Donating Morgues to Hosp

Discussion in 'Middle East' started by Pax Aeon, Aug 30, 2016.

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waltky Well-Known Member

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Cholera death toll rises in Yemen...

Cholera outbreak spreading at 'unprecedented' speed kills 315 in Yemen
May 21, 2017 -- A cholera outbreak in war-torn Yemen has killed 315 people since April 27 and is spreading with "unprecedented" speed, the United Nations' World Health Organization said Sunday.

More than 29,300 suspected cases have been reported in 19 of the country's 22 provinces, the agency posted on Twitter. The highest number of likely cases -- more than 6,000 -- are in the capital city, Sana'a, where the Houthi government declared a state of emergency one week ago. On Friday, the WHO warned that Yemen could have as many as 300,000 cases of cholera within six months and an "extremely high" number of deaths. "We need to expect something that could go up to 200,000-250,000 cases over the next six months, in addition to the 50,000 cases that have already occurred," Nevio Zagaria, WHO Yemen representative, told reporters in Geneva. "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," Zagaria said.

About 7.6 million people live in Yemen's cholera-threatened areas, according to U.N. estimates. Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholera. Almost 75 percent of people infected do not show any symptoms. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates three million to five million cholera cases annually and more than 100,000 deaths occur each year. Cholera can be treated by immediate replacement of the fluid and salts lost through diarrhea. But Yemenis are facing a lack of access to food, clean water and medications and more than half of the country's medical facilities are not operating, the WHO said. Burdened medical staff members haven't been paid since September.

A cholera outbreak in Yemen has spread with “unprecedented” speed and further burdened the decimated health care system, the World Health Organization said

Doctors Without Borders, the international medical humanitarian organization, warns that the outbreak is threatening to spiral out of control. "The fast spread of the current outbreak is extremely alarming," said Ghassan Abou Chaar, the organization's head of mission in Yemen. "Before the outbreak, the health system was already overstretched and people's health needs were already huge. To bring the outbreak under control, it won't be enough simply to treat those people who reach medical facilities. We also need to address the source of the disease, by improving water and sanitation and working in communities to prevent new cases."

The organization has treated 3,092 patients in four cholera treatment centers and nine cholera treatment units. Teams are expecting a delivery of more than 63 tons of supplies in a few days. The current disease outbreak is a resurgence from an episode last October that peaked in December. A power struggle has taken place between a Saudi-backed government and Iran-aligned rebels since late 2014.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...?utm_source=sec&utm_campaign=sl&utm_medium=19
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waltky, May 22, 2017

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waltky Well-Known Member

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Cholera outbreak in Yemen kills nearly 500...

UNICEF: Nearly 500 dead in Yemen cholera outbreak
May 30, 2017 - Between October and the end of May, more than 53,000 suspected cases have been identified in Yemen.

A cholera outbreak that has sickened thousands in Yemen over the last seven months has also killed nearly 500 people, the United Nations' child welfare agency said Tuesday. The outbreak was first reported in October and cholera has since been identified in 19 governorates, or territories. In a Facebook post Tuesday, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said about 53,000 cases have been identified. "Yemen is in the grip of a fast-spreading cholera outbreak," UNICEF said, noting that hundreds have died as the result of "acute watery diarrhea." "Yemenis are facing yet another major public health crisis amidst war and devastated social services."

A World Health Organization aid worker takes efforts to combat a cholera outbreak in Yemen, where more than 50,000 suspected cases have been identified

The agency said 14,000 new cases have been diagnosed in the last two days. Sana'a, the Yemeni capital, is among the affected locations. Nearly a third of the suspected cases involve children under the age of 5, UNICEF said. Yemen's government has declared a state of emergency and has warned that cases could grow into the hundreds of thousands by the end of the year if substantial effort to fight the bacteria isn't taken.

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by the Vibrio cholerae bacteria, which is found in seawater and other non-fresh water sources. The disease causes severe diarrhea, which can be deadly because it quickly dehydrates patients and leads to substantial electrolyte imbalance. Cholera is not uncommon in Yemen.

Humanitarian agencies continues to deliver aid supplies to the Middle Eastern nation in large-scale efforts to fight the disease and keep it from spreading. Officials said although there are many cases, the growth appears to have slowed in recent weeks. Yemen has also seen extensive fighting in a two-year civil war that officials say has only made health circumstances worse.

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U.N. conference seeks $2.1B for Yemen humanitarian aid
April 25, 2017 - The majority of Yemen's population of 26 million are in need of food and other aid, the results of a two-year civil war, the United Nations said.
A conference to raise funds for humanitarian relief in Yemen began Tuesday in Geneva with a goal to fill a $2.1 billion United Nations shortfall in aid. Yemen was already Africa's poorest country before a two-year civil war between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and government troops backed by a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia. The United Nations' World Food Program says that of Yemen's nearly 26 million people, 19 million are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, 7 million require food aid immediately and 2 million children are acutely malnourished. "The situation is nothing short of catastrophic. What everyone tells you is that life has become unbearable," said Robert Mardini, director of Middle East Operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

A boy with severe acute malnutrition sits on a bed at al-Sabeen Hospital, Sanaa, Yemen, on October 18. The United Nations began a conference in Geneva on Tuesday to fill a $2.1 billion shortfall in humanitarian aid to Yemen. Seven million people are in need of imnmediate food aid and 2 million children are acutely malnourished.

Only half of Yemen's hospitals are functioning, and those still in operation face shortages of food, medicine and electricity. A key port, Hudaydah, is essentially closed because of a partial blockade by coalition forces and the effects of coalition airstrikes, the United Nations said. "Without further action from parties to the conflict and the international community, Yemen is at a serious risk of plunging into famine, with even more children's lives hanging in the balance," UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Geert Cappelaere said in a statement Tuesday.

The appeal for $2.1 billion is 15 percent funded, the United Nations said. It is hosting the Geneva conference in conjunction with the Swiss and Swedish governments.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...en-humanitarian-aid/4131493127892/?st[/quote]

waltky, May 31, 2017

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Cholera has killed 746 in war-torn Yemen...

Yemen official: Cholera has killed 746 in war-torn country
Friday 9th June, 2017 -- A cholera outbreak in Yemen has claimed almost 800 lives and is suspected of sickening about 100,000 people, according to the World Health Organization and a Yemeni health official.

Nasser al-Argaly, health undersecretary in the rebel-run government in Sanaa, said Thursday that more than 96,000 people had been infected and at least 746 had died since late April. He blamed the outbreak on the two-year-old Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels. The fighting has damaged infrastructure and caused shortages of medicine.

The WHO said the number of suspected cholera cases had risen to 101,820 with 791 deaths as of June 7. In a joint statement with UNICEF, it said that children under the age of 15 account for 46 percent of the cases. "The cholera outbreak is making a bad situation for children drastically worse. Many of the children who have died from the disease were also acutely malnourished," said Dr. Meritxell Relano, UNICEF's Representative in Yemen.

Yemeni medical officials said an aid flight from the United Arab Emirates carrying 50 tons of cholera treatments arrived in the southern city of Aden, which is controlled by government forces. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media. The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_YEMEN_CHOLERA?SITE=KTVB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
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May 30,`17 -- The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Tuesday that civil war is causing Yemen to spiral toward total collapse with the threat of famine increasing and over 55,000 suspected cholera cases since late April.

Stephen O'Brien told the U.N. Security Council that "Yemen now has the ignominy of being the world's largest food security crisis." More than 17 million people desperately need food, including 6.8 million who are "one step away from famine," he said. "The people of Yemen are being subjected to deprivation, disease and death as the world watches," O'Brien warned. He said the country's "spiral downwards towards a total social, economic and institutional collapse" is a direct consequence of actions by fighters loyal to the former president and Shiite Houthi rebels and their supporters. But it "is also, sadly, a result of inaction - whether due to inability or indifference - by the international community," he said.

O'Brien called for urgent action "to stem the suffering" in the Arab world's poorest nation, stressing that if there was no conflict "there would be no descent into famine, misery, disease and death." But the U.N. envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, told the council that serious negotiations on the first steps to a cessation of hostilities have been slow and the key parties are reluctant to even discuss the concessions needed for peace. "I will not hide from this council that we are not close to a comprehensive agreement," he said. Yemen, which is on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, has been engulfed in civil war since September 2014 when Houthi rebels swept into the capital of Sanaa and overthrew President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi's internationally recognized government.

People are treated for suspected cholera infection at a hospital in Sanaa, Yemen. Jamie McGoldrick, the U.N. humanitarian chief in Yemen, told The Associated Press on Tuesday, May 30, 2017, that treatable diseases like cholera could ravage Yemen this year without an increase in aid and an end to the two-year-old civil war.

In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition, backed by the United States, began a campaign against Houthi forces allied with ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh in support of Hadi's government. Since then, the Iranian-backed Houthis have been dislodged from most of the south, but remain in control of Sanaa and much of the north. Cheikh Ahmed said violence is continuing on numerous fronts, much of it focused on the western coastline where pro-government forces are attempting to make progress toward the port of Hodeida and inland toward the city of Taiz. Violence is also continuing in the border area between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, he said. He urged the Security Council "to strongly convey to the parties that they need to engage immediately with the United Nations to agree on steps to avoid further bloodshed, to halt the slide towards famine and to recommit to a peaceful end to the war."

A group of 22 international and Yemeni humanitarian and human rights organizations - including Save The Children, Oxfam and the International Rescue Committee - also called on the Security Council to end its year-long inaction on Yemen and take action to bring about an immediate cease-fire and end the country's humanitarian crisis which is now "the largest in the world." Cheikh Ahmed and O'Brien stressed that the conflict now threatens access to the port of Hodeida on the Red Sea, a lifeline for most of Yemen's population. Cheikh Ahmed said that during his recent visit to the region he made clear to both parties that the spread of fighting to Hodeida would threaten the flow of desperately needed food and medical supplies and lead to "a devastating loss of civilian life and infrastructure."

In addition, over 1 million civil servants haven't been paid for months, which O'Brien said is affecting more than 8 million people and pushing more and more families toward poverty and starvation. Cheikh Ahmed said he has proposed a compromise which would allow the continued flow of commercial and humanitarian supplies through Hodeida "and ensure the end of any diversion of customs revenues and taxes so that they can be used to support salaries and services rather than the war or personal benefit." Under his proposed agreement, Cheikh Ahmed said, parallel negotiations would take place on avoiding military clashes in Hodeida and resuming salary payments nationally to all civil servants. "Yet even serious negotiations of these first steps have been slow to start," he said.

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waltky, Jun 9, 2017

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