Cholera

Three and a half years of conflict in Yemen have led to the near total collapse of the country’s health system. More than half of health facilities are no longer functional and 16.4 million people do not have access to adequate health services. This advocacy brief by the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition highlights how attacks on health workers, facilities, and infrastructure—at least 40 this year—have contributed to the cholera outbreak and famine-like conditions and provides recommendations for the parties to conflict, the UN Security Council, and others to avert humanitarian and health catastrophe.

The WHO has urgently asked for $22.35 million to prevent cholera from spreading throughout the country, after 18 cases of the disease have been confirmed among 340 suspected cases of acute watery diarrhea. Due to conflict, two thirds of the country’s population do not have access to clean water and sanitation, increased malnutrition is prevalent, and health systems’ resources are scarce.