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Yemen faces disease outbreak threats due to lack of clean water, sanitation: NGO
International aid agency Oxfam has said Yemen is facing a growing threat of disease outbreaks as a result of peopleâs poor access to clean water and sanitation
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nternational aid agency Oxfam has said Yemen is facing a growing threat of disease outbreaks as a result of people's poor access to clean water and sanitation.
'A serious outbreak of disease is looming if water and
sanitation issues are not addressed. Hospitals are struggling to cope without access to fuel, clean water and medical supplies. They surely can't handle a surge in disease,' Oxfam's country director for Yemen, Grace Ommer, said in a release on Tuesday.
Before the recent escalation, 13 million people, or a half of the population in Yemen, were without access to clean drinking water, Oxfam says, citing UN data.
'Yemen needs an urgent cease-fire and the opening of trade routes so vital supplies can enter the country to allow for the rebuilding and revamping of the water infrastructure,' Ommer said.
Local authorities in Yemen have warned that they do not have enough fuel to maintain the pumping and treatment of raw sewage, posing yet another serious threat to public health. Piles of rotting garbage are filling the streets in Yemen's major cities as a result of a lack of local collection services.
Oxfam says it has received complaints from residents in Taiz, saying that they are suffering a severe water shortage and are relying on trucks.
'However, a lack of fuel and fighting in the streets means that it takes four to five days to get water delivered and the prices have increased exponentially,' the agency says. (ebf)(++++)
