Daily Times

YEMEN: Sana’a: Al Houthi rebels declared Yemen to be in a state of emergency after a deadly outbreak of cholera in the Yemeni capital.

According to a statement by the rebels’ news aganecy the Al Houthi-run health ministry cases of cholera had worsened and the ministry had failed to contain the matter. An appeal was launched seeking help from international humanitarian organisations.

Rebel Health Minister Hafid Bin Salem Mohammad said that the scale of the disease is beyond the capacity for his department to contain.

Yemen is a war torn country witnessing an overwhelming war between the Iranian-backed Al Houthis and the Saudi-supported government, because of which the country’s health facilities have suffered greatly.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the cholera outbreak has killed 115 people and left 8,500 ill between April 27 and Saturday.

Hygiene precautions are being recommended to citizens to deal with the situation. Dominik Stillhart, the director of operations at the ICRC during a news conference said, “We now are facing a serious outbreak of cholera.”

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) fearing that health authorities alone cannot fight the epidemic, expressed, “MSF calls on international organisations to scale up their assistance urgently to limit the spread of the outbreak and anticipate potential other ones.”

Yemen is Arab’s poorest country and this is the second outbreak of cholera in the country in a year. Cholera is contracted through the ingestion of contaminated food or water.

Yemen is now classified ast one of the worst humanitarian emergencies in the world, alongside Syria, Nigeria and Iraq. According to the United Nations 17 million people equivalent to two-thirds of the population are at looming risk of famine in Yemen.