RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has strengthened its efforts to combat Yemen’s ongoing cholera crisis with a new $2 million cooperation agreement between the Saudi aid agency KSrelief and the World Health Organization.
Signed during the fourth annual Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum, the agreement was formalized by Ahmed bin Ali Al-Baiz, KSrelief’s assistant supervisor for operations and programs, and Dr. Hanan Balkhy, the regional director of WHO, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
This latest contribution raises Saudi Arabia’s total financial support for cholera response efforts in Yemen to $5 million.
The funding will be used to provide hospitals and health centers with essential medical supplies, including medicines, intravenous solutions, and antibiotics. In addition to medical aid, the initiative will support environmental sanitation, water management, and community education programs.
The agreement will also boost vaccination campaigns led by WHO aimed at curbing the spread of the disease.
Yemen has been grappling with one of the world’s worst cholera outbreaks since the beginning of the country’s civil war in 2014.
The country’s fragile healthcare system, which has been devastated by years of war, has struggled to contain repeated waves of the disease.
Cholera, which spreads through contaminated water and food, has infected over 2 million people in Yemen since 2017, with thousands of deaths recorded, many of them children.
