Local Editor
The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, called on UN Member States to help provide new funds to battle the spread of Cholera in Yemen.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, McGoldrick stated that “humanitarians need US$55.4 million to prevent and treat cholera at the national, governorate and community level in the next six months.”
The UN official warned “every day that funding is delayed the outbreak affects more people and more resources are needed to control it,” adding that “hundreds of thousands of people are at a greater risk of dying as they face the ‘triple threat’ of conflict, starvation and cholera.”
Over the past three weeks, health authorities have reported more than 35,500 suspected cholera cases, a third of whom are children, and 361 associated deaths in 19 of Yemen’s 22 governorates.
The speed at which cholera is spreading among the Yemeni population exceeds the capacity of the health system to respond given its weakened state after more than two years of conflict, import restrictions and the lack of regular salary payments to health workers.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
