KSRelief delivers first shipment of drugs to treat Yemen cholera epidemic

A Yemeni boy receives treatment at a hospital in the southern city of Aden on Saturday. (SPA)

RIYADH: The first shipment of drugs donated by the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid (KSRelief) to treat the cholera epidemic in Yemen has arrived at a hospital in Aden.
Patients and doctors at the hospital expressed thanks to the Center for its aid, and praised its rapid response to combat the disease.
The aid is part of a medical convoy that KSRelief recently sent to address the epidemic. It contains 550 tons of supplies carried by 25 trucks.
The aid is part of a campaign launched by KSRelief and the World Health Organization (WHO).
KSRelief General Supervisor Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah signed an agreement last month with the WHO for $8.2 million for Yemen’s central provinces.
The WHO on Friday announced an outbreak of the infectious disease, with 791 deaths out of 102,000 cases, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. The SPA said 46 percent of the cases are children and 33 percent are elderly.
Cholera has spread to 19 governorates in Yemen, the WHO said. The most affected areas include Ibb, Dhamar, Hajah, Mahwit and Ramah.
To control the epidemic in these hotspots, people with cholera should be moved to other parts of the country to slow down the spread of the disease and to save lives, the WHO added.
Current resources in Yemen are not enough to combat the spread of the disease because more than half of the medical facilities in the country are closed for maintenance, said a WHO spokesman in Geneva.
This is exacerbated by the lack of access to clean drinking water and sanitation among 14.5 million people, and the inability of health care staff to receive their salaries for the last eight months.
The spokesman said malnutrition is rampant in Yemen. The WHO had intervened to improve water and sanitation facilities.
It had also cleared the mobilization of water tankers and water supply stations in a number of houses, and the distribution of hygiene tools and disinfection. It is also providing medical supplies and expanding network treatment centers.
Since April 27, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has provided 197,999 bags of intravenous solutions and drugs.
It has also established more than 100 centers to treat diarrhea, and 166 centers to treat dehydration with oral medication.
The FAO has directed that an aircraft be loaded with 67 tons of medical and pharmaceutical materials.