ACTED responds to cholera emergency in Yemen

Yemen has been impacted by war for over 3 years, resulting in damage to infrastructure on both local and national levels. Access to food and clean water is limited, a challenge that exacerbates water-borne diseases such as cholera. Indeed, cholera has presented a major challenge in Yemen. Since April 2017, Yemen has suffered 1.19 million suspected cases of cholera and over 2,400 cholera-related deaths. As the rainy season begins anew in Yemen, the risk and incidences of cholera cases is rapidly worsening.

In September, ACTED responded to acute cholera needs in Sa’ada governorate, where communities were hardest hit by the recent cholera outbreak and where prevention of further spread of the disease is badly needed. Communities in the far reaches of Sa’ada governorate are especially impacted by cholera because they are so remotely located. In fact, ACTED is the first NGO to ever reach several of these communities with humanitarian aid.

ACTED teams distributed cholera-compliant hygiene kits, comprised of items like soap, detergent, cleaning cloths and sponges, to 1,000 households in remote areas of Sa’ada governorate. The kits were shared along with hygiene-promotion trainings, which empower households and communities to follow hygienic practices that limit the spread of water-borne diseases, such as cholera.

Community members who received the kit were very happy that ACTED delivered these much-needed supplies, even sharing poems of their appreciation for ACTED’s response. One community leader, Nasser, said, “We are so happy about ACTED distribution for hygiene kits, as it is first time to receive hygiene kits [and] the first time [any] organization [has ever] visited us [in this village].”

Nasser’s village is far from any towns and is very remote, meaning that finding simple items like soap and toothbrushes is difficult. With the supplies in the hygiene kits ACTED distributed, Nasser says that his family has “the needed items which can be enough for three months, at least.”