Local Editor
In addition to the worst cholera outbreak in history and a blockade by Saudi Arabia that will probably cause a famine and the deaths of at least seven million people from starvation, diphtheria has broken out in Yemen.
World Health Organization (WHO) officials said last Friday that at least 22 people had died and nearly 200 had sickened from the disease since it was first detected three months ago. Even though diphtheria was eradicated in Yemen 25 years ago, it has now been seen in 13 of Yemen’s 22 governance districts. The disease is spread through the air and young children are particularly vulnerable to it. WHO warns that an epidemic could develop quickly if health workers can’t get access to antitoxins to treat it and vaccines to control it.
That access has been denied by Saudi Arabia, which has been bombing Yemen since 2015. They tightened their blockade on the country last month, but intense international pressure forced them to partially open the country. Not enough, however, for many emergency aid supplies to reach their goals. Ships have been unable to unload and transportation throughout Yemen is still very difficult.
Last Friday, Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesperson, said that 1.9 million doses of diphtheria vaccine for children under age 5 and 1,000 doses of diphtheria antitoxin needed to treat the infection had arrived in Sana, but the border closings still seriously impacted WHO’s operations and its ability to restock these critical medications. In addition, WHO does not have any vaccines for children over five.
Marc Poncin, the Yemen Coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said that Yemen’s health care system, which has completely collapsed, could have easily prevented and contained the diphtheria outbreak.
“With the last diphtheria case in Yemen recorded in 1992 and the last outbreak in 1982, the ongoing war is sending the Yemen health system decades back in time,” said Poncin.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
