More than 200,000 cholera cases in Yemen

The cholera outbreak in war-torn Yemen is spreading rapidly, UN agencies report as the number of suspected cases climbs above 200,000.
 

"We are now facing the worst cholera outbreak in the world," UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) chief Anthony Lake and World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Margaret Chan said in a joint statement.

Every day there are 5000 new cases, and the disease has reached nearly every governorate of the impoverished Arab country, they said.

More than 1300 people have already died from cholera, a quarter of them children.

"This deadly cholera outbreak is the direct consequence of two years of heavy conflict," the UN agency chiefs said, pointing to destroyed health, water and sanitation systems.

In addition, malnutrition has made children vulnerable to infections.

In the Yemeni war, pro-government forces and their Saudi-led allies are fighting against the Houthi
rebels, who are backed by Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran.