Sana’a, 21 August 2019 — A 6-day oral cholera vaccination campaign reached almost 400 000 people, including almost 65 000 children under the age of 5 in Aden, Al Dhale’e and Taiz, where high numbers of suspected cholera and acute watery diarrhoea cases have been recorded.
The first few months of 2019 saw an increase of reported acute watery diarrhoea cases in over 95% of districts across Yemen. Between January and the end of July 2019, there have been nearly 536 000 suspected cases and 773 associated deaths. Children under 5 represent one quarter of all suspected cases.
The vaccination campaign, run by local health authorities, UNICEF and WHO, was made possible thanks to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and to the World Bank’s ‘Emergency Health and Nutrition Project.’
“Amid the fighting in surrounding areas, over 800 health workers, brave men and women, risked their lives to reach communities from cholera — these are the real heroes,” said Altaf Musani, WHO Representative in Yemen.
“Thanks to the extraordinary commitment and dedication of Yemen’s local health workforce, hundreds of thousands of people from these priority districts were reached with vaccination against cholera,” said Sara Beysolow Nyanti, UNICEF Country Representative in Yemen.
Since April 2017, the cholera and acute watery diarrhoea epidemic in Yemen has caused an estimated 2 million suspected cases and 3500 associated deaths. Almost one third have been in children under 5, including 711 associated deaths. The outbreak in Yemen remains the largest cholera in the world.
Health partners throughout Yemen joined forces to control and prevent any future cholera outbreaks. UNICEF and WHO are working closely with the relevant health authorities and other humanitarian partners to respond.
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