WHO: Yemen suffering world's largest outbreak of cholera

Yemen is currently witnessing “the biggest outbreak of cholera in the world”, World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said today.”We arrived yesterday in Yemen, which is facing the biggest outbreak of the cholera epidemic in the world … and we will do everything in our power to promote a common response to the epidemic,” the UN official said.

War-torn #Yemen now faces world's worst #cholera crisis; @UN ramps up delivery of clean water, food https://t.co/glzFiDm8tA @WHO @UNICEF pic.twitter.com/AksSFyaRDv

— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) July 22, 2017

Ghebreyesus thanked “the dedication of the staff and the organisation’s team for their work in light of the difficult challenges that Yemen is going through.”Yesterday, Ghebreyesus, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake and WFP Executive Director David Paisley arrived in Yemen to learn about the worsening humanitarian situation in the country.

@UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake(right) on his way to Yemen today with WFP ED & WHO DG to see the impact on children of the crisis pic.twitter.com/qUGEEiQ7Qq

— UNICEF Yemen (@UNICEF_Yemen) July 24, 2017

According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) report, 1,864 people died in Yemen from the cholera epidemic, with 400,000 cases of infections since the outbreak of the disease on 27 April.

Since 2014, Yemen has witnessed a war between pro-government forces on the one hand and Houthi militants and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh on the other. The unrest has led to a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Middle East’s poorest country.Cholera is a disease that causes severe diarrhea that can kill patients within hours if proper treatment is not obtained quickly. Malnourished children, under the age of five are particularly vulnerable to the disease.