MSF: Scabies outbreak among Yemen’s displaced 

The international humanitarian medical organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) announced on Monday that the contagious skin condition, scabies is spreading among Yemen’s internally displaced population, which is estimated to be around four million people, with those most affected living in the populated displaced camps of the Ibb province.

In a statement issued on Twitter, the organisation explained: “Due to poor hygiene and crowded living conditions, scabies began to spread among people living in the camps.”Adding that the MSF team conducted an intervention to combat the disease in the “22 May” camp in the city of south-western city of Ibb, the province’s capital.

تنقلت أربعة فرق من منزل إلى منزل لتقديم العلاج وتوزيع الملابس الجديدة وتزويد العائلات بالمعلومات الصحية اللازمة. عالجت الفرق أكثر من 1,100 شخص مصاب بالجرب. pic.twitter.com/VW4dhAlJry

— MSF Yemen (@msf_yemen) November 23, 2020

Four teams went house-to-house, providing treatment and healthcare information to families living in the camp where over 1,1000 people have been affected by scabies. They also distributed new clothes, blankets, mattresses and hygiene kits in collaboration with non-profit NGOs Tamdeen Youth Foundation and the Yemen Women Union.

One of Yemen’s most densely populated governorates, Ibb has been under the control of the Houthi-led authorities since 2014, following their takeover of the capital Sanaa.

Yemen’s children make up some two million of the internally displaced population. UNICEF has stated that 12 million need urgent humanitarian assistance, warning that by the end of this year, the number of malnourished children under the age of five could reach 2.4 million, which is half the children of that age in the country.

READ: Yemen’s Houthi govt calls on southerners to resist Saudi-UAE occupation