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The number of Yemen cholera cases has passed 300,000 in the past 10 weeks, the International Committee of the Red Cross says.

The situation has continued to “spiral out of control”, with about 7,000 new cases every day, the ICRC warned.

According to the UN, more than 1,700 associated deaths have been reported,.

Yemen’s health, water and sanitation systems are collapsing after two years of conflict between pro-government forces and the rebel Houthi movement.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholera.

Most of those infected will have no or mild symptoms but, in severe cases, the disease can kill within hours if left untreated.

Image source Al Jazeera

On June 24, the WHO declared that Yemen was facing “the worst cholera outbreak in the world”, with more than 200,000 suspected cases.

Yemen Cholera Outbreak: Number of Suspected Cases Exceeds 200,000

In just over two weeks, another 100,000 people have been infected – an increase the ICRC’s Middle East regional director Roberto Mardini called “disturbing”.

On July 8, the WHO said that 297,438 cases had been recorded, but the agency was still analyzing the latest figures from the Yemeni health ministry on Monday.

The outbreak has affected all but one of Yemen’s 23 provinces. The four most affected provinces – Sanaa, Hudaydah, Hajja and Amran – have reported almost half of the cases.

UN agencies say the outbreak is the direct consequence of the civil war, with 14.5 million people cut off from regular access to clean water and sanitation.

More than half of health facilities are no longer functioning, with almost 300 having been damaged or destroyed, and some 30,000 local health workers who are key to dealing with the outbreak have not been paid for 10 months.

Rising rates of malnutrition have weakened the health of vulnerable people – above all children under the age of 15 and the elderly – and made them more vulnerable to the disease.

Last week, the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator in Yemen warned that humanitarian organizations had been forced to divert resources away from combating malnutrition to deal with the cholera outbreak, raising the risk of a famine.

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Ukraine has set conditions for receiving Russian aid in the east, after a huge convoy of food and medicine set off from outside Moscow.

Security council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the Russian aid should pass through a government-controlled border post and be accompanied by Red Cross officials.

There are Western concerns that Russia is using humanitarian assistance as a pretext to invade eastern Ukraine.

At least 1,500 have died since Ukraine sent troops against pro-Russia rebels.

Ukraine has set conditions for receiving Russian aid in the east, after a huge convoy of food and medicine set off from outside Moscow

Ukraine has set conditions for receiving Russian aid in the east, after a huge convoy of food and medicine set off from outside Moscow

The fighting in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions since mid-April has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have fled to Russia.

The Red Cross says it still needs more security guarantees and information about the aid convoy.

Almost 300 trucks of humanitarian aid left the Moscow area bound for Luhansk on Tuesday morning.

Russian TV showed the cargo, said to include hundreds of tonnes of grain, baby food and medicine, which will go to civilians trapped by fighting in the area held by pro-Russia rebels.

Media reports said the cargo left from a point south-west of Moscow. It is expected to arrive at the Ukrainian border in the next two days.

“The convoy will deliver to the residents of eastern Ukraine about 2,000 tonnes of humanitarian cargo, collected by the residents of Moscow city and region,” Moscow region officials said.

Andriy Lysenko said Ukraine had three conditions for receiving the aid:

  • That it should pass through a border post controlled by Ukrainian government guards
  • That it should be accompanied by Red Cross representatives
  • That a decision should be made about the amount being sent, its destination and route. [youtube Gd2nMyqLHz8 650]

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The Kremlin announced it was working with the Red Cross on sending a humanitarian aid convoy to Ukraine and EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has told President Vladimir Putin not to carry out unilateral military action in the region under any pretext.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has accused Russia of using humanitarian grounds as a pretext for military intervention in eastern Ukraine.

At least 1,500 people have died since Ukraine’s new government sent in troops to put down an insurrection by pro-Russia separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in mid-April.

The fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have fled to Russia.

Russia is accused of using humanitarian grounds as a pretext for military intervention in eastern Ukraine

Russia is accused of using humanitarian grounds as a pretext for military intervention in eastern Ukraine

Ukrainian forces have now encircled Donetsk, a city of one million people before the unrest began, and residents are struggling without power or reliable sources of food.

In a statement after Vladimir Putin’s conversation with Jose Manuel Barroso, the Kremlin said: “It was noted that the Russian side, in cooperation with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, will send to Ukraine a humanitarian convoy.”

It did not say when the aid convoy would leave. The Red Cross acknowledged last week that it had received an offer from the Russian foreign minister about organizing aid convoys to the affected areas in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government in Kiev and Western powers fear that a Russian humanitarian mission in the east could be used as a pretext to bring Russian military forces across the border.

In a telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Jose Manuel Barroso “warned against any unilateral military actions in Ukraine, under any pretext, including humanitarian,” an EU commission statement said.

Jose Manuel Barroso made a separate telephone call to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to discuss the situation in Luhansk, it added.

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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it faces unprecedented challenges in the complex age of modern warfare as it celebrates its 150th anniversary.

These include “new weapons [and] new types of actors coming into conflict”, ICRC chief Peter Maurer said.

The world’s oldest aid organization recently warned it was unable to cope with the “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis in Syria.

The movement currently employs 13,000 people working in 92 countries.

The movement was founded by a Geneva businessman, Henri Dunant, in 1863 in response to the suffering of injured soldiers abandoned on the battlefield of Solferino in northern Italy.

Horrified by what he saw, he documented the slaughter in his book, A Memory of Solferino, and decided to create an organization dedicated to helping war wounded.

Today, the ICRC, together with the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, has become a worldwide movement with tens of thousands of workers and volunteers.

In addition to delivering aid, the organization also aims to ensure that the rules of war are respected in conflict zones, and has a responsibility for looking after the rights of prisoners of war.

But the organization now faces challenges not foreseen in the original Geneva conventions.

At Solferino, there was just one civilian casualty, whereas nowadays it is estimated civilians make up more than 90% of war victims.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it faces unprecedented challenges in the complex age of modern warfare as it celebrates its 150th anniversary

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it faces unprecedented challenges in the complex age of modern warfare as it celebrates its 150th anniversary

Warfare in the 21st Century is complex and chaotic, in part because of new weapons such as drones, conflicts – like that in Syria – with multiple armed groups, and shifting frontlines, said Peter Maurer.

“We see conflicts when one convoy has to overcome 35 roadblocks before the convoy gets to areas where food and medicine can be distributed,” he added.

Last November, the ICRC issued a warning over Syria’s escalating humanitarian crisis.

The constantly moving nature of the conflict meant it could not plan, but instead had to seize opportunities for aid delivery on a day-to-day basis, the organization said.

As a result, relief workers were unable to access certain parts of the country.

Despite its strong reputation, the record of the ICRC is not perfect.

Its policy of confidentiality led it to keep silent about Nazi concentration camps in WW2.

Confronted by widespread criticism, the organization was later forced to issue an apology. It said it had feared that speaking out would jeopardize its access to allied prisoners.

Red Cross: Key dates

  • 17 February 1863: Launch of the International Committee for Relief to Wounded Soldiers, later to become the International Committee of the Red Cross.
  • 26-29 October 1863: Creation of National Societies and adoption of the red cross as a protective emblem
  • 22 August 1864: The original Geneva Convention is adopted to protect the sick and wounded in armies in the field. Paves the way for the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
  • 27 July 1929: Red crescent is officially recognized as a protective emblem.
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