Efforts Of Emergency Operations Room To Fight Cholera

SH.A.

The Emergency Operations Room of Ministry of Water and Environment on Wednesday held its weekly meeting to discussed efforts to combat Cholera epidemic.

In the meeting, Minister of Water and Environment Nabil al-Wazir stressed the importance of the role played by the field teams working in the field of combating the epidemic in the provinces.

The minister noted that the steps performed by the rapid response teams, as well as water quality monitoring teams reflect the level of expertise that thousands of cadres have reached in the field of emergency response and interventions to reduce the epidemic.

The international report by UNICEF on Yemen’s successful cholera control experience was seen as a catalyst for further efforts, he added.

The meeting discussed reports prepared by the Emergency Operations Room on the weekly status of water and environmental sanitation response, including the general epidemiological situation at the national level during the period from 11 to 17 June.

Caused by a water-borne bacterial infection, cholera is transmitted through contaminated food or water, or through contact with fecal matter or vomit from infected people. A patient can lose up to 25 liters of fluid per day.

Cholera can cause severe diarrhoea and vomiting, and rapidly prove fatal, within hours, if not treated. But cholera is very simple to treat most patients respond well to oral rehydration salts, which are easy to administer. In more serious cases, intravenous fluids are required. Ultimately, no-one should die of cholera but in Yemen hundreds do each year.