The Yemeni health authorities in Sanaa said the number of diphtheria infections across the country have since March increased to 2,572, including 1,491 children.
As many as 141 patients have died, including 126 children, according to recent statistics issued by the health authorities in Sanaa this week.
WHO attributes the rapid spread of diphtheria in Yemen to the collapse of the health system, saying "only 50 percent of all health facilities are partially or fully functioning."
In March, WHO and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) launched a large-scale vaccination campaign to control the spread of diphtheria, targeting 2.7 million children aged between 6 weeks and 15 years old in 11 provinces.
The impoverished Arab country has been devastated by deadly war and all-out blockade since March 2017.
The war pits the Yemeni internationally recognized government backed by the Saudi-led coalition against the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi rebels who forced the government and President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile after they seized control over much of the country's north, including the capital Sanaa.
The war has killed over 10,000 people, mostly civilians, displaced three million others, triggering the world's biggest humanitarian and economic crisis that could put over 25 million population on the brink of famine, according to UN humanitarian agencies.
In addition to the war and economic blockade, the country was also plagued with cholera outbreak, hunger and severe malnutrition.
【国际英语资讯:Feature: Plagued by cholera, hunger, now diphtheria strangles more children in war-ravaged Y】相关文章:
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