‘600,000 Yemenis could contract cholera in 2017’

ADEN, Yemen: More than 600,000 people are expected to contract cholera in Yemen this year, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned on Sunday as the war-torn country´s healthcare system faces collapse.

One in every 45 Yemenis will have contracted the disease by December as "a direct consequence of a conflict that has devastated civilian infrastructure and brought the whole health system to its knees," the ICRC said in a statement.

More than 370,000 people have fallen ill and 1,800 have died since late April in Yemen´s second cholera outbreak in less than a year, according to the ICRC and the World Health Organisation.

A war between the Saudi-backed government and Iran-backed Huthi rebels has killed thousands of people and displaced millions. A string of vital ports along the country´s Red Sea coastline are blockaded, leaving millions of people with limited access to food and medicine.  Less than half of the country´s medical facilities are currently functional. —AFP