World / Middle East Almost 100,000 suspected cholera cases in Yemen since January, says UN The civil war has created the perfect environment for the waterborne disease to thrive, with civilians lacking access to clean water and healthcare BL PREMIUM

Sanaa — Nearly 110,000 suspected cases of cholera have been reported in war-hit Yemen since the beginning of January, including 190 related deaths, the UN said on Monday. The UN office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said children under the age of five make up nearly a third of 108,889 cases which were reported between January 1 and March 17. OCHA said the spike, which comes two years after Yemen suffered its worst cholera outbreak, was concentrated in six governorates including in the Red Sea port of Hodeida and the Sanaa province, home to the capital. Early rains could be blamed for the recent increase in suspected cholera cases, it said. “The situation is exacerbated by poor maintenance of sewage disposal systems in many of the affected districts, the use of contaminated water for irrigation, and population movements,” OCHA added. The waterborne disease is endemic to Yemen, which witnessed the worst cholera outbreak in its modern history in 2017. More than 1-million suspected cas...