Cholera epidemic kills over 1,800 in Yemen: WHO

By Ali Owaida

MARIB, Yemen (AA) – A total of 1,802 people have been killed by a cholera outbreak in war-torn Yemen since late April, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.

In a statement, the WHO said 356,591 suspected cases of cholera have been registered in 21 provinces across the country.

The UN agency said the capital Sanaa was among the provinces hardest-hit by the disease, while the highest number of deaths was recorded in the northwestern Hajjah province.

The southern province of Socotra remains the only Yemeni province where the cholera epidemic has not spread.

Impoverished Yemen has remained in a state of civil war since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including Sanaa.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and shoring up Yemen’s embattled government.

According to UN officials, more than 10,000 people have been killed in the war, while more than 11 percent of the country’s population has been displaced as a direct result of the conflict.