Yemen: ‘worrying outbreak’ of dengue fever prompts UN health agency appeal for safe humanitarian corridor
31 August 2015 – The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO)
is appealing for a safe corridor to reach more than 3 million people in
war-torn Yemen’s most populated governorate, Taiz, where “an extreme
spike” in cases of dengue fever has been recorded over the past two
weeks.
“There is an urgent need for a humanitarian corridor to assess the
situation and institute control measures,” said Dr. Ala Alwan, WHO’s
Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.
“We need protection and safety for all people working to control the
worrying outbreak of dengue fever in Taiz, which includes support with
residual spraying, health education of communities and distribution of
other supplies,” Dr. Alwan said.
With an estimated population of 3.2 million people, Taiz, near the
southern tip of the country, is the most populated governorate in Yemen
where now three of its major hospitals are inaccessible or have been
caught in the frontline of fire denying millions of displaced, sick and
wounded civilians access to health services, WHO said in a press release issued over the weekend.
More than 800 deaths and over 6,000 injuries have been reported in Taiz since March 2015.
And now, according to WHO, an extreme spike in cases of dengue fever has
been recorded in the governorate in the past 2 weeks from 145 suspected
cases at the start of August to 421 by 25 August 2015.
The
World Health Organization (WHO) has supported campaigns of indoor and
outdoor spraying against dengue vectors in Yemen. Photo: WHO Yemen
World Health Organization (WHO) has supported campaigns of indoor and
outdoor spraying against dengue vectors in Yemen. Photo: WHO Yemen
