You are here:
Emergency aid Yemen: cholera and food insecurity
In 2017, action medeor sent medicines and medical supplies worth more than 300,000 euros to Yemen. © action medeor
Since March 2015 there has been war in Yemen. Three years later, more than 20 million people - 80% of the population – are in need of humanitarian aid.
Large parts of the country's infrastructure have been destroyed, over 10,000 people have been killed and millions displaced. Millions of people suffer from malnutrition - a particular risk to children. Public services and water and sanitation supply are out of service.
Breakdown of health care
Over 16 million people in Yemen have no access to basic health care. According to the World Health Organization, less than 45 percent of health facilities in the country are still fully functional. Furthermore, the supply of medicines can no longer be guaranteed, as the quantity of imported drugs has reduced by 70 per cent since the fighting began.
At the beginning of 2017, the United Nations announced that every ten minutes, a child under the age of five dies of preventable diseases.
Cholera
In October 2016 a cholera outbreak was reported in Yemen. Since that time, the number of cases has been increasing dramatically. In mid-July 2017, the World Health Organization reported more than 320,000 cases and 1,700 victims. By the beginning of 2018, the number of suspected cases has risen to over one million.
Children are particularly affected. Many children who died of cholera had already been weakened by malnourishment. If a cholera is not treated, 15 per cent of the patients with die within a few hours. Cholera are transmitted via sewage contaminated with faeces, which is why the disease spreads rapidly in areas where infrastructure is damaged by conflicts or catastrophes.
In addition to the cholera epidemic, an outbreak of diphtheria exacerbates the situation in Yemen. The collapse of the country’s health system means that people cannot be treated adequately and that highly infectious diseases spread unhindered.
action medeor supplies medical aid
To support the suffering Yemeni population, action medeor supports local healthcare facilities with medical aid. action medeor has aready shipped more than 40 tons of medical aid deliveries to Yemen which included infusion solutions for the treatment of cholera, as well as various medications, vitamin supplements and therapeutic food for health facilities and hospitals.
Further deliveries are currently being prepared.