VIENNA - Cholera cases in Yemen are expected to at least double by the end of 2017 to more than 600,000, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday, as the charity's president visited the war-ravaged country to assess the worsening crisis. "The great tragedy is that this cholera outbreak is a preventable, man-made humanitarian catastrophe," said ICRC President Peter Maurer. The ICRC said less than 45 per cent of the country's medical facilities are operational, while others are only partially functioning. Cholera, which is contracted through contaminated water and causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting, is easily treatable and preventable. Other infectious diseases such as malaria and dengue fever are also going untreated due to a lack of resources, the ICRC warned.

Source: The China Post July 23, 2017 10:07 UTC