Local Editor

"Air strikes, armed confrontation and looting across Taiz governorate in Yemen have exacerbated an already desperate situation, dramatically escalating humanitarian suffering", the United Nations [UN] relief wing warned on Thursday, urging unimpeded access to those in need. 

In its latest crisis update, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA] reports that from 14 to 27 August, at least 95 civilians, including 52 children and 20 women, were killed, and 129 civilians, including 14 women and 36 children, were injured by indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling.

The city of Taiz is being described by the UN "as a battleground," with people caught between the frontlines and unable to find safety and security. 

OCHA is warning that the health system across the governorate has nearly collapsed due to the damage to health infrastructure caused by the conflict and the lack of fuel, medicines and hospital supplies. None of the six public hospitals in the governorate are operational, with the exception of the emergency unit and the kidney ward at only two hospitals. 

Further exacerbating the public health outlook in Taiz, the UN said, an extreme spike in cases of dengue fever has been recorded in the last two weeks with 432 cases as of 25 August. The city’s inhabitants are also at greater risk of contracting communicable diseases due to solid waste piling up on the sides of roads.

The UN said that it is reiterating its call for predictable, safe, and unimpeded access to communities in need in the whole governorate, to deliver the much needed life-saving assistance to those who it says continue to suffer in Taiz.