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Yemen

Yemen Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 25 | 16 July 2017 [EN/AR]

Attachments

HIGHLIGHTS

• 332,658 suspected cholera cases and over 1,759 cholera deaths reported between 27 April and 13 July.

• Two million people more need assistance, bringing the number of people in need to 20.7 million from 18.8 million in January.

• From January to April 2017, 4.3 million people were assisted across Yemen out of the total target population of 11.9 million.

• 22 civilians were killed or injured in an air attack on a market in Sa’ada near the border with Saudi Arabia.

Worst cholera outbreak in the world

More than 330,000 suspected cases with 1,759 associated deaths reported in less than three months

The cholera epidemic sweeping across Yemen is currently the worst such outbreak in the world. At the end of June, suspected cases exceeded 200,000 people, increasing at an average of 5,000 every day, with one person dying nearly every hour. Children and the elderly are the most affected; children under the age of 15 account for 40 per cent of suspected cases and a quarter of the deaths while those aged over 60 represent 30 per cent of fatalities. The governorates most affected by cholera are Amanat Al Asimah, Al Hudaydah, Hajjah and Amran. The situation is particularly worrying in ‘’hot spots’ like Ibb,
Raymah, Dhamar, Hajjah and Al Mahwit, where case fatality ratios, a reference to the proportion of deaths within a designated population, have exceeded the one per cent emergency threshold established by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Cholera is endemic to Yemen, but the current outbreak is the direct consequence of more than two years of heavy conflict that has moved an already weak and impoverished country towards social, economic and institutional collapse. The war has decimated Yemen’s health system, damaged key infrastructure and cut off 15.7 million people from access to adequate clean water and sanitation. In the last 10 months, about 30,000 health and sanitation workers have not received their salaries; only a third of critical medical supplies have entered the country compared to the period before March 2015; and garbage has piled up in the cities. Indeed, the current numbers of cholera cases are likely to be an underrepresentation of the magnitude of the epidemic since only 45 per cent of health facilities are effectively functioning and surveillance systems are weak.
Data collection and verification is a major challenge throughout the country. Between 27 April and 13 July 2017, a total of 332, 658 suspected cholera cases and 1,759 deaths were reported in all governorates except the island of Socotra.

Response ramped up but the magnitude of the outbreak is outstripping capacity to respond

Humanitarian partners have ramped up efforts to contain the outbreak. However, the magnitude of the outbreak is beyond the capacity, presence and reach of humanitarian organisations who have had to reprogramme meagre resources available to tackle widespread food insecurity for the cholera response. Displacement and high levels of food insecurity compound the cholera crisis.

The current cholera outbreak has overwhelmed what remains of Yemen’s conflictbattered health system. Hospitals and treatment centres are struggling to cope with large numbers of patients and medicines and intravenous fluids are quickly running out. Various partners are racing to stop the acceleration of the cholera outbreak, working around the clock to detect and track the spread of disease and to reach people with clean water, adequate sanitation and medical treatment. Rapid response teams are going house-to-house to reach families with information about how to protect themselves by cleaning and storing drinking water. Medical supplies such intravenous fluids, and Oral Rehydration Salts and water chlorination tablets have been shipped in and plans are underway for a nationwide anti-cholera campaign from 15 July in priority districts. Despite these efforts, the response continues to lag behind. Some 5,006 Cholera Treatment Centre beds are needed but only 2,351 are currently available, along with 2,003 Oral Rehydration Points, of which only 624 are currently available. On 4 July, WHO reported that out of 309 districts with reported cholera cases, cholera partners are only present in 121 districts.

Even then, the risk of the epidemic affecting thousands more people is real as the health, water, sanitation and hygiene systems are unable to cope and humanitarian funding remains low. As of 16 July, the 2017 Yemen Humanitarian Response Fund is 40 per cent funded. Additionally, humanitarian organizations continue to face restrictions on movements of supplies and people to and from Yemen. Al Hudaydah port, which is the main entry point for humanitarian supplies, is operating at limited capacity due to damage sustained from attacks. In Sana’a, the main airport is closed to commercial traffic, thus preventing people seeking medical assistance not available in Yemen to travel abroad for treatment.

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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
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