23 January 2017 – The Ministry of Public Health and Population in Yemen released additional figure for the ongoing outbreak of cholera. Since the last update on 10 January 2017, 1866 new suspected cases of cholera have been reported; no additional deaths were reported. The weekly trend of reported cholera cases remains unchanged although a decrease in the reported cases have been observed in a number of the affected governorates. Poor accesses to health care services along with limited active case-findings due to insecurity are severely compromising the effectiveness of the ongoing response operations.
As of 18 January, a cumulative total of 17 334 suspected cases of cholera, including 99 associated deaths were reported across the country, with a case-fatality rate of 0.6%. Of these, 189 cases were laboratory-confirmed for Vibrio cholerae 01.
The affected governorates are Abyan, Aden, Amran, Al Hudaydah, Al-Bayda'a, Al-Dhale'a, Dhamar, Ibb, Hajjah, Lahij, Raymah, Sana'a, Ta'izz, Al Jawf and Sana'a City. The majority (65%) of the new cases were reported from 5 governorates, namely; Abyan, Al Hudaydah, Ibb, Lahaj, and Ta'izz.
The cholera taskforce led by WHO, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, UNICEF, OCHA and other partners, continues to strengthen cholera response activities at the national and governorate levels. The taskforce continues to provide support to the 2 national health emergency control rooms in Aden and Sana'a.
