Suspected cholera cases in Yemen hit 940,000: WHO

By Mohamed al-Samie

SANAA, Yemen

More than 940,000 suspected cases of cholera have been reported in war-torn Yemen since April 27, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report released Monday.

Within the last seven months, the report states, the WHO has recorded 940,768 suspected cholera cases in 22 out of Yemen’s 23 provinces.

Over the same period, the report adds, 2,208 cholera-related deaths have been documented.

The highest number of suspected cases (about 136,000) have been reported in Yemen’s western Al-Hudeidah province, while the highest number of cholera-related deaths (about 416) have been reported in the northwestern Hajjah province.

The only part of the country to have remained entirely unaffected by cholera -- a potentially fatal infection of the small intestine -- is Yemen’s Socotra province, a small four-island archipelago in the Arabian Sea.

Yemen has remained dogged by violence since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country. The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, more than 3 million Yemenis have been forced to flee their homes since the conflict began, while more than 20 million are in need of humanitarian assistance.