Alwaght- Children and the elderly are the most affected by the cholera epidemic sweeping across Yemen.
More than 330,000 suspected cases with 1,759 associated deaths have been reported between 27 April and 13 July in the impoverished state suffering from daily bombardments by Saudi regime.
According to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),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. 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 Organization (WHO).
Cholera is endemic to Yemen, but the current outbreak is the direct consequence of nearly three years of heavy Saudi-led bombardment that has moved an already weak and impoverished country towards social, economic and institutional collapse. The Saudi aggression has decimated Yemen’s health system, damaged key infrastructure and cut off 15.7 million people from access to adequate clean water and sanitation.
Saudi Arabia backed by the US and some despotic regional regimes launched the deadly campaign against Yemen in March 2015 to push back the popular Ansarullah movement from Sana’a and to bring back to power Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, Yemen's president who has resigned and is a staunch ally of Riyadh.
The brutal aggression has so far claimed the lives of over 13,000 Yemenis mostly civilians including women and children.
The Saudi military aggression has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, markets schools, mosques and factories.
