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>Cholera is a disease spread mostly by water and food that has been contaminated with faeces that contain cholera-causing bacteria. It breaks my heart just thinking about this.

For someone to be said to be suffering from cholera, they must have ingested human excrement. It means one way or another, you have been ingesting somebody’s feaces.

Can you believe this? That in 2018, in a “free” Zimbabwe, faeces are still finding their way into some of the population’s food and water? Raw sewage is finding its way into our boreholes, reservoirs and to our plates. This is a crime against humanity! It is unacceptable!

The fact that cholera affects mostly children makes it even more difficult to accept.

The only places one finds cholera in Zimbabwe are high-density suburbs. I am yet to hear of someone in Borrowdale having died of cholera. Cholera is therefore a disease caused by poverty and nothing else. This is a disease that affects the poorest in our world. It is shocking that Zimbabwe is facing a cholera outbreak. Are we poor?

 Is Zimbabwe so poor that we cannot afford to treat sewage? Are we so poor that we are feeding children food contaminated with faeces? I can’t wrap my head around the level of poverty insinuated by the cholera outbreak. I cannot because I have seen the mansions our leadership reside in. Judging by those, we are definitely not poor. I have seen the government issue vehicles zooming up and down the streets of Harare. Our ministers’ dressing does not tell a story of poverty. No, they smell expensive, look expensive and behave expensive.

What then is going on? Cholera is a problem found in areas with poor sanitation. If people have no access to clean water, the problem is exacerbated because to prevent its spread, people must be able to wash their hands after using the toilet. One of the symptoms of cholera is diarrhoea. Those infected must have access to a sanitary toilet, preferably a flush toilet so their stool does not go on to contaminate anymore water and food.

If cholera managed to find its way into waterways, groundwater and other drinking water sources in the first place, now that there is an outbreak, it is most likely for the untreated diarrhoea of sufferers to find its way into those same water sources again, creating an epidemic. It is also highly likely that it will travel through underground water and reach even those suburbs where our government officials reside.

What is clear is that Harare has a sanitation problem, but it is confined to certain areas of the city. There are sections of the city that are not affected by council water shortages because they can afford to have boreholes in their backyards. There is a section of the population that has raw sewage from burst pipes floating freely in their streets and another that is unaffected because they can afford to use the septic tank system.

What are the chances then, that once there is an outbreak like the one we are experiencing now, those same citizens affected can curb it? They are told to wash their hands after using the toilet and I ask you: wash their hands with what water? You tell them to buy hand sanitiser and they ask you: buy it with what money? They cannot even afford the treatment required. It’s a vicious and, I daresay, criminal cycle.

Government finds itself with a problem bigger than anyone could have ever imagined. Because they never serviced the sewer systems since they took over in 1980, they find themselves having to contain a cholera outbreak among people surrounded by puddles of raw sewage. Raymond Majongwe, a teacher’s union representative, posted a video on Twitter of a school in Warren Park where a sewer pipe burst right by the school gate and kids have to cross a pool of raw sewage for them to enter the school. What this means is the children will spend the day drinking safe water within the school premises, they’ll wash their hands after using the toilet; but still have to go through raw sewage for them to get home.

Cholera is a disease caused by poverty. To eradicate it, government must eradicate poverty in the country. They must ensure there is a supply of fresh, clean water to all areas in the country. Delta has donated water to affected areas to help curb the spread. Noble of them, but how sustainable is this as a solution? What happens when they leave? To solve the crisis, there has to be a complete overhaul of our sanitation services. New pipes must be laid and new sewage treatment methods must be implemented urgently.

It is embarrassing for Zimbabwe to be experiencing this problem right now. The year is 2018. It has been 38 years since Zimbabwe attained independence. Black people are running themselves. We are free. Why then are we seeing evidence of such gross inequalities? Our leaders need to develop a conscience. How do they feel living luxurious lives while the people are sinking in the depths of poverty? While the people are so poor that they have no choice, but to drink water with faeces in it?

There is need for government to prioritise health and sanitation. It is non- debatable. A minister in a country whose citizens have no drinking water should be ashamed to be seen driving a luxury vehicle. A president whose people are drinking water mixed with human excrement must take drastic measures to redirect finance from luxuries for the few to necessities for the masses.

Water is a basic human right. The Human right to Water and Sanitation was recognised as a human right by the United Nations general assembly on July 28, 2010. Access to water is also considered a condition for the right to enjoy an adequate standard of living. The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use. The general assembly acknowledges that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential for the realisation of all other human rights. One would think this is standard.

We have different views about how this nation should be governed. We have different preferences of who should lead us. But I have no doubt in my mind that as Zimbabweans, we can agree that it is inhumane, unacceptable and criminal for certain sections of our population to suffer the indignity of ingesting faeces in whatever form or quantity.</s>Zimbabwe's churches are being urged to take action to curb the spread of cholera after more than two dozen people died from the disease in the past two weeks.

Cholera was first detected earlier this month in the suburbs of the Zimbabwe capital, Harare, where more than 3,000 cases have been reported. But it has since spread to several parts of the country and the Zimbabwean government has declared a state of emergency.

Dr Kenneth Mtata, General Secretary of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, is calling on churches to cooperate with the Ministry of Health and take steps to stop the disease spreading further.

'Churches are faced with a special challenge, because they gather thousands of people every week and it is in such gatherings that the spread of the pandemic can be accelerated,' he said.

The last time Zimbabwe was hit by a deadly cholera outbreak was in 2008, when over 4,000 people died from the disease.

Mr Mtata said the outbreak 10 years ago reflected the country's 'failing systems,' but he said that it would be 'short-sighted' to try and score political points off the current outbreak.

'This is not a time for us to score political goals. It is an opportunity for us to demonstrate that as Zimbabweans it is possible for us to go beyond our political positions and remember the words of the Apostle Paul: that when one part of the body is in pain, the rest of the body is in pain with it.'

He added that the church was needed to be a 'catalyst for the broader healing of the nation' as it deals with this latest challenge.

The Zimbabwean government has cracked down on street vendors selling food, and said it plans to repair sewer pipes and collect refuse.

Street vendors have expressed anger over the move. Mother-of-three Maria Mange, who sells fruits and vegetables on the streets of Harare, blamed the outbreak on the city's poor sanitation.

'I am refusing to leave the streets on the basis that we cause the spread of cholera,' she told Voice of America. 'Our wares are cleaned or boiled before being consumed. It is dirty water which causes cholera, their failure to collect refuse, plus flowing sewage in the streets and blocked sewer pipes. Why concentrate on vendors and not criminals?'

The government was strongly criticized when it launched a crowdfunding campaign last week to tackle the cholera outbreak amid reports that it had been spending on new cars for cabinet members.

The World Health Organization has expanded its operations in the wake of the outbreak and is providing cholera kits to the country's cholera treatment centers.</s>The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) has deployed volunteers to support communities affected by a cholera outbreak, which has claimed many lives in Harare.

There are fears that the outbreak might spread across the country as it started in an urban area with high -density and high-population mobility.

Sporadic cases have also been reported in Midlands, Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland Central provinces.

“There is a high risk of the disease spreading to other provinces across the country as Midlands is geographically at the centre of the country and there is frequent movement of people,” ZRCS secretary-general Maxwell Phiri said.

“We have deployed most of the Red Cross volunteers to Harare’s Glen View and Budiriro high-density suburbs, which have been identified as the epicentre of the outbreak.”

In response to the outbreak, ZRCS is actively involved in community-based monitoring of cholera, house-to-house hygiene promotion, point-of-use water treatment, active case finding and referral to clinic, street campaigns, road shows, school health promotion, health education in churches, crèches, market places, public transport, industrial areas as well as distribution of water guard, aqua tabs, tapped buckets as well as soap.

The organisation has since launched an emergency appeal for $240 000 so that it can directly assist over 15 000 people with water and sanitation services, which will be complemented by health and hygiene promotion.

Cholera has affected over 3 000 people across Zimbabwe.

“Our community disaster response teams comprising of staff and volunteers are involved in raising awareness on good hygiene practices in affected and at-risk areas surrounding communities as well as supporting overwhelmed health personnel at cholera treatment centres,” said Phiri.

With a countrywide network of 17 000 Red Cross volunteers, so far 1 500 volunteers have been mobilised in the affected areas of Harare, Midlands, Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland Central provinces, where sporadic cases of cholera have been reported as the organisation is supporting the government in close collaboration with other humanitarian agencies.

Ministry of Health and Child Care officials have warned that the cholera outbreak could spread rapidly and have devastating consequences if adequate measures to contain it are not scaled up.

What makes the potential humanitarian situation more complex is that most of the areas affected areas such as Harare and Midlands have suffered a dual outbreak of both cholera and typhoid in recent weeks, which have claimed many lives.</s>The number of people who have been quarantined for cholera in Bulawayo has risen to 10 from three on Friday amid revelations that the city’s infectious disease hospital Thorngrove can hold no more than 100 patients.

One more suspected case was recorded in Umguza, Matabeleland North which brings to 11 the number of feared cases in the region.

The water borne disease, which broke out in Harare at the beginning of the month, has claimed at least 30 lives.

Bulawayo City Council director of health services Dr Edwin Sibanda yesterday said half of the quarantined people were probable cases of cholera awaiting lab results confirmation.

 The results are expected today.

Speaking during an emergency meeting organised by Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Judith Ncube at Mhlahlandlela Government Complex yesterday, Dr Sibanda said the city last had a confirmed cholera case in 2008.

“So far we have 10 suspected cases, all of whom are at Thorngrove Hospital in an isolated ward. There is a mix of ages and patients are aged from 18 to 63,” he said. “Five of them are probable cases as they were in contact with affected areas and they have signs and symptoms that spell cholera.”

Dr Sibanda said the other five have profuse diarrhoea although they have not been out of Bulawayo.

“The province uses Thorngrove as a screening facility for infectious diseases although our lab facilities need boosting. As of today we did not have a confirmed case but we have put in place thematic committees to ensure we do not have an increase of these suspected cases,” he said.

The thematic committees will include Minister Ncube, representatives from BCC, Mpilo Central Hospital, United Bulawayo Hospitals and other stakeholders around the city.

Dr Sibanda said the city does not have adequate science experts to ensure there are rapid tests which will help determine cholera infection.

Mpilo Central Hospital clinical director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya said cholera is deadly and members of the public should be aware that it can kill within hours.

“We want the people of Bulawayo to know that cholera is deadly and prevention is better than cure. They need to wash their hands and practise high levels of hygiene because we will not be able to contain an outbreak in the city.

In our deliberations with the Minister, we made it clear that we need the Ministry of Health and Child Care to immediately unfreeze the hiring of scientists as it is crucial that we have them now,” he said

Dr Ngwenya said the media also had a role to disseminate information on hygiene.

“We also encourage people to rush to hospital whenever they suspect they may have cholera as taking home remedies may prove deadly,” he said.

Matabeleland North provincial medical director Dr Alfred Muchara said the Umguza patient was on treatment. “We have one suspected case in Umguza and we await lab test results to confirm if it is cholera. Measures are in place to ensure there is no spread of cholera in the communities,” he said.

Minister Ncube will today meet stakeholders including the business community to come up with strategies to avert cholera in Bulawayo. Cholera broke out in Harare on September 1 this year with 5 463 cases and 30 deaths having been recorded so far.

Members of the public are urged to wash hands before and after eating or using the toilet. They should also eat hot food and avoid eating at undesignated places. Breast feeding mothers are also encouraged to wash hands before and after feeding their babies. The Chronicle.</s>South Africa on Monday issued a cholera alert following an outbreak in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

“There is a significant risk that travellers from the outbreak-affected area may present with cholera in South Africa,’’ the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said.

Healthcare workers countrywide, especially those in Limpopo Province which borders Zimbabwe, should be on high alert for suspected cholera cases, the NICD said.

It urged the public, especially those living in close proximity to the border with Zimbabwe, to use safe water and practice good hygiene to reduce the risk of cholera and other diarrhea diseases.

According to the World Health Organisation as of September 11, almost 2,000 suspected cholera cases, including 24 deaths, were reported in Zimbabwe.

The outbreak is linked to inadequate supply of safe piped water and subsequent use of unsafe water supplies, including boreholes and wells.

As of September 13, there are no confirmed or suspected cases of cholera in South Africa, the NICD said.

However, 16 people have died in the past week from a suspected cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe that has now spread to the Midlands province.

Although cholera cases hit Zimbabwe almost yearly, many families still bear the scars of a cholera outbreak between August 2008 and June 2009, when 98,596 cases of cholera were reported, resulting in 4,369 deaths across the country.</s>Any disruption to food and fuel supplies coming through Hodeidah port could cause starvation on an unprecedented scale, warns Save the Children

Multimedia content and case studies from Yemen available to download here.

Hodeidah, September 19 – An additional one million severely food insecure children in Yemen risk falling into famine as families struggle to afford basic food and transport to health facilities for treatment. This brings the total number of children in Yemen at risk of famine to 5.2 million. Already, more than two-thirds (64.5 per cent) of Yemen’s population don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

As Hodeidah experiences renewed fighting there is a real risk its port – a vital lifeline for goods and aid for 80 per cent of Yemen’s population – could be damaged or temporarily closed, reducing the supply of available of food and fuel as well as driving up prices even further. This would put the lives of hundreds of thousands of children in immediate danger while pushing millions more into famine. The United Nations has warned that failure to keep food, fuel and aid flowing into Yemen, particularly through Hodeidah, could result in one of the worst hunger crises in living history.

A depreciating currency and collapsing economy are pushing communities to the brink of starvation.

Food prices are up by an average of 68 per cent since 2015. The Yemeni Rial (YER) has depreciated nearly 180 per cent in the same period. It now costs 600 YER to buy one US dollar, up from 215 YER when the conflict escalated more than three years ago. The price of fuel commodities like petrol, diesel and cooking gas has increased by 25 per cent between November last year and September 2018. The price of food has doubled in some parts of the country in just a matter of days.

Though there are food supplies in the marketplace for now, families are unable to afford even the most basic items like bread, milk or eggs, making an already precarious situation even worse. Our teams have heard that some households are being forced to make impossible choices like deciding to take a malnourished baby to hospital at the expense of feeding the rest of the family.

Dr *Ali, Save the Children’s Nutrition Adviser in Amran, Yemen, said:

“I’ve noticed people’s deteriorating financial situation as it’s very common that parents don’t bring their children to health facilities to get treatment, simply because they can’t afford the transport costs. People haven’t received salaries for years and they don’t have another source of income, so they simply don’t have the money to get their children to hospital.”

A recent UN survey of 2,098 respondents across Yemen confirms the extent of the problem. An alarming 98 per cent of households said food was their primary expenditure. Equally alarming, 93 per cent named high commodity prices as their primary challenge, including food and fuel, while 72 per cent of households said they’re cutting down on food consumption to cope with a lack of income.

Nutrition surveys conducted during the first half of 2018 confirm alarming rates of malnutrition. In Hodeidah for example, home to Yemen’s largest commercial port and the primary gateway for food and fuel to the rest of the country, one in every twenty children under five years is suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Half of all children in Yemen are stunted.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, CEO of Save the Children International, said:

“The nutrition crisis in Yemen has serious implications. Millions of children don’t know when or if their next meal will come. In one hospital I visited in north Yemen, the babies were too weak to cry, their bodies exhausted by hunger. This could be any hospital in Yemen.

Severely malnourished children are 12 times more likely to die from preventable diseases like pneumonia, measles, cholera or diphtheria. Children who are stunted suffer physical and often irreversible long-term cognitive damage. It’s essential that children get the food they need to survive and thrive.”

What happens in Hodeidah has a direct impact on children and families right across Yemen. Even the smallest disruption to food, fuel and aid supplies through its vital port could mean death for hundreds of thousands of malnourished children unable to get the food they need to stay alive. It could drive up the price of fuel – and as a result transport – to such an extent that families can’t even afford to take their sick children to hospital.

“This war risks killing an entire generation of Yemen’s children who face multiple threats, from bombs to hunger to preventable diseases like cholera. All parties must agree a political solution to this conflict and give children hope of a brighter future. Let the immense suffering of children in Yemen end.”

The brutal conflict in Yemen means communities across the country face huge barriers that prevent them from seeking care for their sick and undernourished children, including financial obstacles. The root causes of chronic and acute malnutrition and the factors leading to it are complex. But the current conflict creates conditions where malnutrition can take hold, exacerbated by poverty, lack of access to aid and low socioeconomic status. Women and girls and boys suffer disproportionately.

Three months ago, 10-month-old *Amara became ill and suffered from diarrhoea. Although the illness passed, she kept losing weight until she became severely malnourished. Her father, 18-year-old *Omar and his wife, are both unemployed and struggle to provide *Amara with enough daily nutrition.

"Life has changed a lot during the war. The hardest change for my family is the rise in prices. Even if I manage to find work, the cost of food is just too high. We used to eat meat and fish but now I can only afford bread, so that’s what we eat. Sometimes we can also eat vegetables if I save up. We often go two whole days without eating, and I feel very guilty when that happens. I feel like I’ve failed my child.”

Two-and-a-half-year-old *Suha suffers from severe malnutrition which makes her weak and unable to eat on her own. Her mother *Manal has given birth to fourteen other children, some of whom have died. She struggles to feed her family as prices continue to increase because of the war. She couldn’t breastfeed as she is undernourished herself, saving what little food she has for her children.

“I have fifteen children, almost half of them died. Two girls and one boy died from malnutrition, two boys from high fever and diarrhea. And the other two were stillborn. When *Suha was six months she became sick. I could see her bones, I could not do anything for her. I had no money for transportation. I had to borrow some money to take *Suha to the Hospital far away from our village. Most of the time we eat two meals a day. In the morning we eat bread with tea and for lunch it’s potatoes and tomatoes. Usually, I don’t eat. I keep it for my children.”

14-month-old *Mansur from Amran suffers from Severe Acute Malnutrition. He started becoming undernourished seven months ago, when he suffered from diarrhea. Mansur’s father used to be a farmer before the conflict, but now struggles to find work. As a result, the family can’t afford the nutritious food their children need. The main meal the family eats is milk from their neighbour’s livestock, along with bread.

"My husband already sold our land to survive in this crisis. When it started, we could not find anything to eat. The doctor said that Mansur is getting better. He gave me nutrition for my son. He told me that I should continue breastfeeding and showed me why it's important."

Multimedia content and case studies from Yemen available to download here.

Children in Yemen need your help. Visit our Yemen Crisis Appeal page.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, CEO of Save the Children International is available for interview at the UN General Assembly from 24th September 2018. To arrange an interview, kindly contact Helena Dollimore in New York:

Spokespeople available in Yemen, Jordan and the UK.

For more information or to arrange an interview kindly contact Anna Rauhanen in London:

For out of hours requests, please contact the 24 hour media line on +447831650409
• None Since the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen began in March 2015 it has become three times more expensive for Yemenis to buy foreign currency. More information on the depreciation of the Yemeni Rial can be found here.
• None The UN’s humanitarian update for the period 27 August – 6 September warns that an additional two million Yemenis are at risk of famine as a result of the currency collapse and price hikes. Based on the credible assumption that approximately half of Yemen’s population is under 18 years, Save the Children estimates that one million additional children under 18 years are at heightened risk of famine.
• None According to the UN’s World Food Programme, 8.4 million people in Yemen are severely food insecure and at risk of being pushed into famine. Based on this, Save the Children estimates that 4.2 million children under 18 years are at risk of famine in Yemen.
• None The UN estimates that 17.8 million people in Yemen require emergency food assistance. World Bank data shows Yemen’s population as 27.58 million (2016). Based on this, 64.5 per cent (or two-thirds) of the population requires emergency food assistance.
• None Earlier this month Save the Children warned that with a 2018 caseload of nearly 400,000 severely malnourished children under five years in Yemen, more than 36,000 children would likely die from extreme hunger this year. For more information read full report here.
• None The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is widely acknowledged as the worst in the world. 60 per cent of the country’s population is hungry, including 8.4 million acutely food insecure people who do not know where their next meal will come from and an additional 10 million people who could slip into pre-famine conditions by the end of year unless the conflict ends. At least 1.8 million children and 1.1 million pregnant or breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished, including 400,000 children under the age of five who are suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
• None Save the Children has over 50 years of experience working in Yemen. Operational since 1963, the charity was the first international aid group in Yemen. We work nationally and locally to promote and protect children’s rights, with programmes in education, protection, health, nutrition, water, livelihoods, and food security. More information here.</s>Lagos: More than 500 people have died from cholera in the Lake Chad region since the start of the year, representing the worst outbreak to hit the area in four years, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

"Over 27,000 cholera cases and 510 deaths have been reported as of week 35 in the Lake Chad Basin," the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report. "This is 10 times more than the average cholera caseload over the past four years."

It said more than six million people could be affected by the outbreak without urgent action to control it. "The region is facing floods and heavy rains, creating an ideal environment for the outbreak to spread," OCHA warned. "The last two major outbreaks in the region were in 2010 and 2014. An outbreak in 2018 is consistent with the four-year cycle."

The Lake Chad region straddles parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, which are also grappling with a jihadist insurgency

OCHA said Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, was the worst-hit with 24,000 cases, and said immediate action was needed to stem the disease.

Cholera is caused by a bacterium transmitted through contaminated food or drinking water. It causes acute diarrhoea, with children particularly at risk. Water-borne diseases are a constant threat in the Lake Chad region because of a lack of adequate sanitation as well as stagnant groundwater during the rainy season.</s>HARARE - As Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s new Cabinet holds its first meeting on Monday, there have been calls for him to declare the country’s cholera outbreak a state of disaster.

At least 30 people have died and more than 5,400 have been infected since the outbreak earlier this month.

In a statement quoted by state media, local government minister July Moyo says measures need to be taken to manage the drivers of cholera.

These include Harare’s lack of clean water, dilapidated sewage systems and poor waste management.

The minister says the cholera outbreak should be declared a state of disaster.

Two more people are reported to have died from the disease over the weekend, bringing the death toll this month to 30.

Meanwhile, reports say there have been more suspected cholera infections in Bulawayo, with 10 people there now under quarantine.</s>RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia confirmed one cholera infection and three other suspected cases in an area bordering Yemen, where an epidemic has killed more than 2,000 people, state TV reported on Sunday, citing a health ministry official.

The report said the patients, identified only as non-Saudis, were receiving care at al-Mauwassem General Hospital in Jizan, about 1,000 km (620 miles) southwest of the capital, Riyadh.

It was unclear if the outbreak was linked to Yemen or to last month’s Muslim haj pilgrimage, which draws some 2 million foreigners each year, raising the risk of the spread of infectious disease.

The incubation period for cholera, which spreads through ingestion of faecal matter and causes acute watery diarrhoea, is a matter of hours. Once symptoms start, it can kill within hours if the patient does not receive treatment.

The United Nations has blamed warring sides in Yemen’s three-year-old civil war and their international allies, including Saudi Arabia, for fuelling the cholera outbreak there.

The WHO has rolled out an emergency treatment programme, based on the vestiges of Yemen’s shattered health system, to try to catch new cases early and stop the explosive spread of the disease.

Saudi Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabeeah said last month that the haj had passed without any outbreak of disease.
Nine people, including seven children, die from cholera in Yemen, amid an outbreak of the disease in the country.