Local Editor
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned of an epidemic of dengue fever in Yemen as the impoverished country is already grappling with cholera due to a years-long Saudi aggression.
"We have been recently extremely worried and concerned by reports of dengue outbreak, in addition to cholera," Robert Mardini, head of the ICRC’s delegation at the United nations (UN), told a gathering of journalists on Monday.
Mardini said more than 3,500 people have come down with dengue fever and 50 are reported to have died in the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah from late October to early November.
"It is a big challenge to be able to control this epidemic," the official said.
Mardini added that over 2,000 people are infected with dengue and close to 3,000 suffer from malaria in that coastal province with the same name.
Dengue fever is transmitted mainly by mosquitoes that breed in stagnant water.
Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, has been battered by what the UN describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, which has resulted from a devastating campaign launched by Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies in March 2015.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
