A cholera outbreak in Yemen was detected in October of last year. About 500 people have been killed by the outbreak since then. With more and more cases coming into the hospitals, a shortage of doctors, staff and medicine has arisen. With this shortage and increase in the spread, there has been concern for the treatment centers keeping up.

Cholera is a fatal bacterial disease of the small intestine, typically caused by an infected water supply. Yemen is a poor country already and has been in conflict for the past two years, making it vulnerable to an outbreak of this kind. Cholera in Yemen is of great humanitarian concern, especially with respect to its children.

Mothers have discovered their children sick with symptoms of cholera. It is only known that there is nothing to be done but what the treatment facilities must offer. Much like a young boy in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, who was admitted to the hospitals after having an ill night. The mother soon caught the disease, and they both lay in rooms next to each other in one of the treatment centers. Cases like this are commonplace, but organizations are trying to contain this expanding epidemic.

According to Save the Children, as this disease disrupts children’s lives, its hospice needs continue to grow. With this alarming spread, organizations like UNICEF and others are aiding the treatment centers. Mohammed Zaid, a doctor at one of the treatment centers, said they were “urging the international organizations to scale up their responses.” These essential organizations are working hard to combat cholera in Yemen.

They are providing lifesaving services, expanding treatment for children with malnutrition and are working toward supporting displaced families with healthy water and resources.

With weak immune systems and poor living conditions, it seems that these children have hardly anything to look to, like an opportunity for education and development. But the hope these children can look to is national organizations, in duty to give these emerging, poverty areas, vital nourishment. That is the hope the world can give to them, maintaining relief to subdue cholera in Yemen.

– Brandi Gomez

Photo: Flickr