WHO: Cholera kills over 1,990 people in Yemen
29 Jul 2017- A total of 1,992 people have been killed by a cholera epidemic in war-torn Yemen since late April, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday.
In a statement, the WHO said 419,804 suspected cases of cholera have been recorded in the country since April 27, Anadolu Agency reported.
The UN agency said the highest number of fatalities was recorded in the northwestern Hajjah Province and in Hudaida in western Yemen.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had expected the number of suspected cholera cases in Yemen to double by year’s end to over 600,000.
Impoverished Yemen has remained in a state of conflict since 2014. The conflict escalated when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in 2015.
According to the ICRC, over three million people have fled their homes since the onset of the Yemen conflict, and more than 20 million throughout the country are in need of humanitarian assistance.