Yemen facing hidden cholera crisis as COVID cases set to peak in coming weeks

Thousands of people in Yemen could be dying from undetected cases of cholera because COVID-19 has overwhelmed the country’s health facilities and people are too frightened to seek treatment for fear of the virus, Oxfam said.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Yemen is likely to peak in the coming weeks while the heaviest rains are expected in August which could deepen a hidden cholera crisis.

The numbers of recorded suspected cholera cases since March have shown an abnormal decrease. In the first three months of 2020, there were more than 100,000 suspected cases of cholera in Yemen but this dropped by 50 percent in the second three months. Last year, the numbers increased by 70 percent in the second quarter because it coincides with the start of the rainy season.

This means it’s likely there are already tens of thousands of people suffering from undetected and untreated cases of cholera. According to the WHO, half of those diagnosed with cholera will die from the disease if its left untreated but with timely and adequate treatment, that will remain below 1 percent.

The first case of the Coronavirus was reported in the country in April and although officially only 1,644 cases had been recorded by July 22nd, the actual figure is likely to be far higher because of underreporting and a lack of testing facilities. The UK’s Department for International Development has estimated it could already be as high as one million.

Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director said: “Yemen is on course for a truly horrific catastrophe as both cholera and COVID could peak in the coming weeks. Yemenis desperately need an end to the fighting which has destroyed health facilities and left communities more vulnerable to the virus.

“Rather than show that Yemen has cholera and COVID-19 under control, the low official numbers demonstrate the exact opposite. A lack of working health facilities and people too scared to get treatment mean that the numbers suffering from these diseases are being vastly under-recorded.”

Yemen has also been hit by the economic fall out from the Coronavirus. A slump in remittances and even tighter restrictions on vital food imports mean there have been huge increases in the price of food and millions of Yemenis are being pushed deeper into a hunger crisis.

Compounding this is a lack of funding to meet people’s needs. Only two percent of the funding needed to provide clean water and sanitation to stop the spread of COVID-19 has been given. Overall, there’s less than a third of the funding for Yemen now than at the same point last year even though COVID-19 has exacerbated what was already the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster.

Original source: Oxfam
Published on 27 July 2020