Cholera Epidemic Kills Yemen’s Children

A cholera epidemic, which has killed more than 2,000 people in Yemen, continues to claim unborn children amid the ongoing Saudi military campaign against the impoverished nation.

According to a Reuters report, released on Thursday, one of the latest victims of the cholera epidemic died in mother’s womb in the western port city of Hudaydah.

Following health deterioration, her mother Safaa Issa Kaheel, then nine months pregnant, was brought into a crowded clinic in the city by her husband.

Once there, she was referred by a nurse for an ultrasound scan that showed her baby had died of dehydration.

“My stomach started hurting more and more. I felt death,” said Kaheel, adding, “Thank god I survived the (delivery), but my diarrhea hasn’t stopped.”

According to doctors at the city’s Thawra hospital, at least 15 unborn children perished in the womb in September and October due to cholera.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection that is spread through contaminated food or water. It can be effectively treated with the immediate replacement of lost fluids and salts, but without treatment it can be fatal.

Agencies and medics say the poor, the starving, the pregnant and the young are most vulnerable to the epidemic. The cholera ward is full of children at hospitals across Yemen.

The Red Cross has already warned that cholera epidemic could infect a million people in Yemen by the end of the year.

Soumaya Beltifa, spokesperson for the Red Cross in the Yemeni capital Sana’a, warned that a lack of funds and health personnel were blunting efforts to eradicate the disease.

“The cholera epidemic has become a norm, leading to complacency in dealing with the disease, not only by civilians but also from the various (aid) organizations,” she warned.

In August, Save the Children, an international NGO, said that kids under 15 represented nearly half of new cases and a third of deaths, with malnourished children more than six times more likely to die of cholera than well-fed ones.

The developments comes as two and a half years of Saudi-led war on Yemen have sapped the country of the money and medical facilities it needs to battle the contagion.

Millions of Yemenis are struggling to find food.

The country’s health sector has been badly battered while the ongoing Saudi aggression has left public sector salaries for doctors and sanitation workers unpaid.

The Saudi aggression has killed more than 12,000 people since March 2015. Saudi Arabia has also imposed an all-out blockade against Yemen

Riyadh has turned a deaf ear to all international warnings against the dramatic humanitarian situation in the impoverished country.