Yemen: 35,000 cancer patients in jeopardy

YEMEN

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday that 35,000 cancer patients deprived of treatment are facing jeopardy in Yemen.

"Cancer could be a death sentence in #Yemen unless treated," WHO said on its twitter account.

"An estimated 35K people will die from #Cancer, if treatment is no longer provided as a consequence of no funding. No more cancer treatment drastically increases the number of lives that will be lost to this disease," the tweet said.

WHO emphasized that 12% of the cancer patients were children who also lack medications.

Conflict between Iran-backed Houthis and governmental forces are taking place in Yemen, where long-term political instability has prevailed.

Yemen has remained wracked by violence since 2014, when the Iran-aligned Houthi group overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated the following year when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains in Yemen and supporting the country’s pro-Saudi government.

As a result of the clashes and air strikes, civilians face a huge humanitarian tragedy, due to malnutrition, lack of access to clean water, shortages of medicines and medical supplies, as well as the closure of health centers, which cause epidemics, especially cholera.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the raging conflict since 2016, according to UN estimates.

*Writing and contribution by Dilara Hamit from Ankara