Houthis' investment in "drainage basins" causes spreading cholera in al-Baida
English - Saturday 13 April 2019 الساعة 04:13 pm
Al-Baida –NewsYemen.net
Medical sources in al-Baida city in the central Yemen said on Friday that the recent outbreak of Cholera in the province is the result of Houthi militias collusion in selling sewage water to farmers to irrigate their agricultural crops in districts under their control.
Water and Sanitation Institution, run by the armed militias, sells sewage water in Azza area to farmers to irrigate vegetable farms in the outskirts of the city of al-Baida, sources said to Newsyemen.
The polluted sewage used to irrigate crops on the outskirts of the city has led to an alarming increase in the number of cholera patients, particularly al-Thawra Hospital, Cholera has spread which medical sources consider it a return to the epidemic that swept the province in 2017.
The medical sources called on the relevant international organizations to stop the spread of the epidemic and not use sewage water to water vegetables and others agricultural crops.
Last week, the Médecins Sans Frontières said that it had donated medical supplies to health centers in al-Baida province to expand the response and prevent the spread of cholera throughout the country.
"There has been a sharp increase of cholera cases in several Yemeni provinces under the control of the Houthi militias'', Doctors Without Borders added.
According to UNICEF field surveys, water and contaminated food are the largest factor in the cholera transmission in Yemen by 90 per cent and 10 per cent due to infection, where the incidence increases with the onset of the rainy season and the collapse of basic services, including the provision of drinking water supply systems, and water systems, poor sanitary drainage systems, and the use of polluted water for agriculture.
