Cholera epidemic overwhelms Yemen

Three hundred and twenty-nine Cholera deaths among 32000 confirmed cases !

No this is not a statistic from 19th century Europe but from 2017.

It was 163 years ago that John Snow established the fact that killer disease Cholera was transmitted through ingestion of food and water contaminated by feces of infected patients. Though it was much before discovery of pathogenic bacteria and antibiotics to combat them, just the discovery of method of transmission helped to contain devastating Cholera epidemics in Western Europe.

In this 21st century armed with all the high-tech drugs and gadgets, and with immense scientific knowledge one does not expect such epidemics to happen again. But sadly it is happening now in war-torn Yemen, where US backed Saudi’s fight Iran backed Houthis.

Children getting treatment – via BBC

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Hundreds of civilians killed in deadly bombing by Saudis

You may hear a lot about atrocities by Syrian government forces and Russians in Aleppo.  Both the American and Sunni Islamist media will highlight events there but they are less vocal about high civilian death toll in attacks by Saudis in Yemen.

Recently USA backed Saudi coalition is accused of killing hundreds of mourners in Yemeni city of Sanaa who were attending a cremation function.

Saudi-led warplanes struck a funeral at a community hall in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the country’s Houthi-run administration said on Saturday, but the coalition denied any role in the attack. More than 140 mourners were killed, according to local health officials cited by the United Nations, in an attack that prompted a strong rebuke from Washington, a key Saudi ally.

Jamie McGoldrick, a UN official in charge of humanitarian efforts in the country, said more than 525 were injured.

People stand at the site of an airstrike which witnesses said was by Saudi-led coalition aircraft on mourners at a hall where a wake for the father of Jalal al-Roweishan, the interior minister in the Houthi-dominated Yemeni government, was being held, in Sanaa, Yemen October 8, 2016. REUTERS photo

People stand at the site of an airstrike which witnesses said was by Saudi-led coalition aircraft on mourners at a hall where a wake for the father of Jalal al-Roweishan, the interior minister in the Houthi-dominated Yemeni government, was being held, in Sanaa, Yemen October 8, 2016. REUTERS photo

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Activists angry as Saudi regime is removed from blacklist

In the annual report  of the United Nations Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict for the year 2015, the Saudi government was identified as responsible for more than half of the killings of children in Yemen.

The United Nations verified a sixfold increase in the number of children killed and maimed compared with 2014, totalling 1,953 child casualties (785 children killed and 1,168 injured). More than 70 per cent were boys. Of the casualties, 60 per cent (510 deaths and 667 injuries) were attributed to the Saudi Arabia-led coalition and 20 per cent (142 deaths and 247 injuries) to the Houthis. In 324 incidents, the responsible party could not be identified.

In the annex to the report Saudi government was included in a list of forces harming children all over the World.

e against the Saudi-led coalition outside the offices of the United Nations in Yemen's capital Sanaa August 11, 2015. Reuters/Khaled Abdulah

Protest against the Saudi-led coalition outside the offices of the United Nations in Yemen’s capital Sanaa August 11, 2015.
Reuters/Khaled Abdullah.

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