SANAA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that Yemen is facing a significant drop in immunization rates among children as millions cannot be reached by routine immunization campaigns in the war-torn country.
The country's health system has collapsed during the nine-year civil war, and the situation continues to worsen because of the shortage of international support, the WHO said in a statement published on its official website.
From January to September, 42,400 children in Yemen had measles, and there were 514 associated deaths. In addition, there were about 1,400 diphtheria cases, and 6,000 cases of whooping cough, according to the statement.
In 2023, there have already been 928 suspected cases of acute flaccid paralysis among Yemeni children, an acute condition that could be linked to the debilitating and incurable disease of polio, it added.
"Yemen's health system is already overstretched, yet it faces a rapid increase in health emergencies that is beyond its capacity ... and with the shortage of international support, many facilities will be forced to shut down," the statement quoted Arturo Pesigan, WHO representative and head of mission in Yemen, as saying.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014. The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced four million, and pushed the country to the brink of starvation. ■
