MOSCOW (Sputnik) - As many as nine people, including seven children, died from cholera in Yemen, Youssef Hadiri, the spokesman for the Health Ministry in the Houthi-controlled Sanaa, said on Sunday.

"The number of deaths caused by cholera totaled nine, five of [the dead] are female and four are male, with seven victims being children," Hadiri wrote in a tweet.

In late August, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, said that the organization had vaccinated nearly 400,000 people in Yemen, however, the concerns about the possible emergence of another cholera epidemic remained.

According to the UN information, over 2,300 deaths from cholera have been registered in Yemen since April 2017.

Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Houthi rebels for several years. The Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf nations has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015.

READ MORE: Red Cross: Yemen Cholera Deaths Expected to Double by Year’s End </s> A cholera outbreak in war-torn Yemen has killed at least 115 people and left 8,500 ill as hospitals struggle to cope with an influx of patients, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said, citing figures compiled by the Yemeni health ministry.

ICRC said on Sunday that the victims died between April 27 and Saturday.

"We now are facing a serious outbreak of cholera," said ICRC director of operations Dominik Stillhart, at a news conference in the capital Sanaa.

More than 8,500 suspected cases of the waterborne disease were reported in the same period in 14 governorates across Yemen, Stillhart said, up from 2,300 cases in 10 governorates last week.

READ MORE: Ould Cheikh Ahmed - Yemen on 'brink of abyss'

This is the second outbreak of cholera in less than a year in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country.

Yemen is in the grips of a war between the Saudi-supported government and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, and fewer than half of the country's health facilities are functioning two years into the conflict.

Stillhart said hospitals were filled beyond capacity with patients displaying symptoms of cholera, a bacterial infection contracted through ingesting contaminated food or water.

"There are up to four cholera patients in one single bed," Stillhart said.

"There are people in the garden, and some even in their cars with the IV drip hanging from the window."

The World Health Organization now classifies Yemen as one of the worst humanitarian emergencies in the world alongside Syria, South Sudan, Nigeria and Iraq.

READ MORE: Famine 'largest humanitarian crisis in history of UN'

Critical food imports are also at an all-time low as many of the country's Red Sea ports are blockaded.

The United Nations has warned that 17 million people, equivalent to two-thirds of the population, are at imminent risk of famine in Yemen.

More than 8,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened to support Yemen's government in 2015, according to the WHO. </s> A cholera outbreak in war-ravaged Yemen could infect more than 300,000 people by the end of August, up from nearly 193,000 cases today, the United Nations said Friday.

"Probably at the end of August we will reach 300,000" cases, U.N. children's agency spokeswoman Meritxell Relano told reporters in Geneva during a conference call.

Since the outbreak was declared in April, an estimated 1,265 people have died, she said.

"The number of cases continue to increase," Relano said, adding that all of Yemen's 21 governorates have been affected.

She said that children had been hit hard by the outbreak, accounting for half of the registered cases to date.

But only a quarter of the people who have died so far were children, she said.

Cholera is a highly contagious bacterial infection spread through contaminated food or water.

Although the disease is easily treatable, doing so in conflict-torn Yemen has proved particularly difficult.

Two years of war between the Huthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led Arab military coalition have killed more than 8,000 people and wounded 45,000 others.

According to the U.N. human rights agency, civilians account for nearly 5,000 of the recorded deaths and more than 8,500 of the injuries.

The conflict has also devastated the country's infrastructure, leaving more than half of its medical facilities out of service.

Yemen is also on the brink of famine, with about 17 million people -- two-thirds of the population -- uncertain of where their next meal will come from, according to the U.N.'s World Food Program.

"This is the largest humanitarian crisis happening in the world at the moment," WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher told reporters.

She said the agency was scaling up its response and aimed to provide food aid to 6.8 million people across the country this month alone.

But more than half of those people will receive reduced rations because of a dire funding shortage, she warned. </s> Image copyright EPA Image caption No part of Yemen has been spared from the cholera outbreak, the UN says

Yemen is now facing the worst cholera outbreak anywhere in the world, the United Nations has warned.

A statement by Unicef and the World Health Organization says the number of suspected cholera cases in the war-torn country has exceeded 200,000.

So far more than 1,300 people have died - one quarter of them children - with the death toll expected to rise.

The two UN agencies say they are doing everything they can to stop the outbreak from accelerating.

"We are now facing the worst cholera outbreak in the world," the statement says.

"In just two months, cholera has spread to almost every governorate of this war-torn country," it says, with an estimated 5,000 new cases every day.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Children have been hit especially hard by the cholera outbreak

Image copyright EPA Image caption Hospitals have been overwhelmed by the number of people afflicted by cholera

Yemen's health, water and sanitation systems are collapsing after two years of war between government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and the rebel Houthi movement.

The rebels control much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

Hospitals are overcrowded and severe food shortages have led to widespread malnutrition, making Yemenis - especially children - even more vulnerable to cholera.

The UN says it is deploying rapid-response teams to go house-to-house telling people how to protect themselves by cleaning and storing drinking water. But clean water is in short supply.

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholera.

Most of those infected will have no or mild symptoms but, in severe cases, the disease can kill within hours if left untreated.

The war has left 18.8 million of Yemen's 28 million people needing humanitarian assistance and almost seven million on the brink of famine. </s> ADEN/DUBAI, May 15 (Reuters) - Cholera has killed at least 180 people in Yemen in recent weeks, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday, a day after authorities declared a state of emergency in the capital Sanaa and called for international help.

Sanaa is controlled by the armed Houthi movement, which is aligned with Iran and fighting a Western-backed, Saudi-led coalition. More than 10,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in more than two years of war, which has also destroyed much of the country's infrastructure.

Only a few medical facilities are still functioning and two-thirds of the population are without access to safe drinking water, the United Nations has said.

Dominik Stillhart of the ICRC told reporters in the port city of Aden that at least 180 people had died from the acute diarrhoeal disease since April 27, and that 11,000 more suspected cholera cases had been reported across the impoverished country.

Houthi authorities have said 115 of those who have died were in the city of Sanaa and its province.

"What is happening today exceeds the capabilities of any healthy health system, so how can we (cope) when we are in these difficult and complicated conditions," Saba news agency quoted the Houthi-run administration's health minister Mohammed Salem bin Hafeedh as saying.

The ministry, after meeting in Sanaa with U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick and other international officials, called on humanitarian organisations and aid donors to help it avert an "unprecedented disaster".

It declared a "state of health emergency in the capital," the agency said.

Saba said 8,595 suspected cholera cases were recorded in Sanaa and other Yemeni provinces between April 27 and May 13, while laboratory-confirmed cases were 213. The disease can be fatal within hours if left untreated.

The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier put the death toll at 51. It has also said that 7.6 million people in Yemen live in areas at high risk of cholera transmission.

A cholera epidemic late last year petered out but outbreaks are becoming more frequent.

Sanaa has been worst hit, followed by the surrounding province of Amanat al-Semah, WHO data has shown. Cases have also been reported in other major cities including Hodeidah, Taiz and Aden.

Some 17 million of Yemen's 26 million people lack sufficient food and at least three million malnourished children are in "grave peril", the U.N. has also said. (Reporting by Muhammed Mukhashaf and Ali Abdelatti Writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi, Sami Aboudi,; editing by John Stonestreet and Gareth Jones) </s> The United Nations has warned that by summer’s end, if the Saudi blockade of Yemen continues, the resulting man-made famine could put 300,000 Yemeni people at risk of cholera. This was conveyed in a statement by Meritxell Relano of the United Nations’ Children’s Agency.

Currently there are 193,000 known cases of the disease in Yemen with 1,265 reported. Many of these deaths are children. </s> UNITED NATIONS, June 25 (APP): Yemen is now facing the worst cholera outbreak in the world, with suspected cases exceeding 200,000 and the

 number increasing at an average of 5,000 a day, the United Nations has warned.

 In a joint statement, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Anthony Lake and World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan said that in just two months, cholera has spread to almost every governorate of this 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.

 “This deadly cholera outbreak is the direct consequence of two years of heavy conflict,” the UN officials said, noting 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.

 An estimated 30,000 dedicated local health workers who play the largest role in ending this outbreak have not been paid their salaries for nearly

 10 months.

 “We urge all authorities inside the country to pay these salaries and, above all, we call on all parties to end this devastating conflict,” they said. </s> Alwaght- A cholera outbreak in Yemen has claimed the lives of 115 people, while some 8,500 others are suffering from the infection as Saudi Arabia continues bombardment on the impoverished state.

Medics say the number of patients is currently overwhelming Yemen’s hospitals this being the second outbreak of the waterborne disease in less than a year.

“We now are facing a serious outbreak of cholera,” Director of Operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross Dominik Stillhart told a news conference in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on Sunday. Citing figures compiled by Yemen’s Health Ministry, he reported that 115 people had died of cholera between April 27 and 12 may. This is a dramatic jump from the death toll of 51 cited by the World Health Organization earlier on Thursday, marking a rapidly worsening situation.

Stillhart said hospitals could not accommodate all of the patients, with up to four people seeking treatment per bed. “There are people in the garden, and some even in their cars with the IV drip hanging from the window,” he said.

Cholera outbreaks are symptomatic of the dire conditions in Yemen, which is suffering from a Saudi-led aggression now in its third year. The Saudi regime has also imposed a transport blockade on the war-torn country.

The blockade is hampering the delivery of crucial humanitarian supplies, including food and medicine, while Saudi airstrikes have contributed to deterioration of civilian infrastructure, such as water treatment plants. The UN says 17 million people in Yemen are at imminent risk of famine. Over 12,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians including women and children, have been killed during the ongoing Saudi-led aggression on Yemen.

Last April, children rights groups, Save the Children and Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict said that the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen, backed by the UK and the US must be put on a UN violations list for repeated attacks on medical facilities and violating the rights of children. In a report the two bodies noted that, the conflict has forced more than half of Yemen’s medical facilities out of action, leading to the “near collapse of the country’s already fragile healthcare system.” The report says those that remain face severe shortages of medicine and equipment in the face of a maritime block imposed by the Saudi-led aggressors. </s> UN: More than 200,000 suspected cholera cases in Yemen

BERLIN (AP) — The U.N. health agency says there are now more than 200,000 suspected cases of cholera in an outbreak in war-torn Yemen, many of them children.

UNICEF director Anthony Lake and World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan said in a statement Saturday, "we are now facing the worst cholera outbreak in the world," with an average of 5,000 new cases every day. The agencies say that more than 1,300 people have died — one quarter of them children — and the death toll is expected to rise.

The U.N. says 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.

In addition, an estimated 30,000 local health workers have not been paid for nearly 10 months.
Nine people, including seven children, die from cholera in Yemen, amid an outbreak of the disease in the country.