Around 600,000 cholera cases expected in Yemen by late 2017, Red Cross warns

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.

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.

“It is a direct consequence of a conflict that has devastated civilian infrastructure and brought the whole health system to its knees,” he added in a statement.

Yemen’s health crisis has been compounded by an ongoing aggression by the Saudi-led coalition that began the war against Yemen in 2015.