(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 25th June, 2017 (WAM) -- Yemen is now facing the worst cholera outbreak in the world with suspected cases exceeding 200,000 and the number is increasing at an average of 5,000 a day, the United Nations has warned.
According to the UN News Centre, Anthony Lake, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, and Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, WHO, said in a joint statement that in just two months, cholera has spread to almost every governorate of the war-torn country.
Already, more than 1,300 people have died, one quarter of them children, and the death toll is expected to rise.
"UNICEF, WHO and our partners are racing to stop the acceleration of this deadly outbreak," they said, also calling on authorities in Yemen to strengthen their internal efforts to stop the outbreak from spreading further.
UN officials said that collapsing health, water and sanitation systems have cut off 14.5 million people from regular access to clean water and sanitation, increasing the ability of the disease to spread.
The UN officials also said that rising rates of malnutrition have weakened children's health and made them more vulnerable to disease.
WAM/rola/Chris
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