Yemen escalation fuels fears of further cholera, measles spread

A young girl eating therapeutic food at a health centre in Yemen. The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that it has run out of lifesaving supplies at its warehouse in Aden.

Heavy fighting in Yemen is fuelling concerns of an uptick in cholera, measles and other preventable diseases, as overcrowding at displacement sites threatens to overwhelm the limited healthcare services still open.

“We know that comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care has been suspended in two hospitals, in Marib and Ras Al-Arah, because staff and operating capacities have been redirected to trauma care to care for the incoming wounded,” said Dr Annette Heinzelmann, UN World Health Organization ( WHO ) Regional Emergency Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Speaking from Cairo via video link, Dr Heinzelmann noted that more than 20 mobile medical teams supported by WHO have been deployed across priority governorates where vulnerable people have been arriving.

The agency has also dispatched nearly 60 tonnes of medical supplies worth around $656,000 to 40 facilities and offices across 10 governorates. But “several lifesaving supply lines” in WHO’s Aden warehouse are already at zero stock, including trauma kits and essential medicines.

本文の著作権はUN Newsにあります。