Yemen Crisis: Children Face Worst Diphtheria Outbreak
Local Editor
Deaths caused by diphtheria, a serious bacterial infection, are likely to rise in Yemen if a blockade imposed by a Saudi-led military coalition is not lifted, Save the Children warned.
The international charity said in a statement on Sunday that minors in the war-torn country were the most affected in what it called "the worst diphtheria outbreak for a generation".
Diphtheria is a contagious infection that targets the body's respiratory system. Though preventable by vaccines, it can lead to breathing problems, heart failure and death.
Since August, the aid organization said it recorded at least 52 deaths from the disease, the majority of which were children under the age of 15.
Some 716 others were infected during the same time period.
"There's so little help right now that families are carrying their children for hundreds of miles to get to us," Mariam Aldogani, the group's field coordinator in the port city of Hudaida, said.
"But they're arriving too late and infecting people on the way."
According to the organization, the outbreak has hit the western provinces of Ibb and Hudaida the hardest.
Apart from severe food and fuel shortages, Yemen's population is already facing an ongoing widespread cholera epidemic, described as the world's worst, and an outbreak of acute diarrhea.
Source: News Agenices, Edited by website team
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