UN Seeks to Open Air Bridge to Aid Yemeni Cancer Patients

Local Editor

The United Nations is working to open a humanitarian air bridge to take Yemeni cancer patients for treatment at qualified facilities, WHO country representative for Yemen Nevio Zagaria said Sunday.

“The aim is to help patients suffering from cancer, chronic diseases and congenital anomalies receive the treatment they need,” Zagaria said, adding that 12 health conditions had been targeted.

These include leukemia, cervical and thyroid cancer, and "patients who need... bone marrow and kidney transplants,” said Zagaria of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The air bridge will operate for an initial trial period of six months, WHO said, without specifying where the patients would be sent for treatment.

“Eighty percent of patients for this flight are women and children," Zagaria said, adding: "The air bridge is one of their last hopes.”

Twenty-two million people, or three in four Yemenis, require some form of humanitarian assistance in the conflict-ravaged country.

On Sunday, hospital and medical sources said clashes and air strikes around the city of Hodeida martyred 32.

A military source told AFP the Saudi-led coalition carried out an air raid on a radio station tower in the port city.

The UN's Yemen envoy, Martin Griffiths, arrived Sunday in the capital Sanaa.

He is pushing for new peace talks after a failed attempt to bring the two sides together in Geneva earlier this month.

Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in 2015.

Nearly 10,000 people have since lost their lives and the country now stands on the brink of famine.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team