Health researchers on Friday (May 4th) warned Yemen risks a resurgence of cholera that could infect millions as the rainy season advances, AFP reported.
Health authorities should "immediately" boost measures to mitigate risk, an international team urged in The Lancet Global Health.
These could include vaccination, distributing equipment for filtering and disinfecting water, and repairing crumbling sanitation infrastructure.
Based on data from previous outbreaks, the team calculated that 54% of districts in Yemen could be affected by an epidemic flare-up in 2018, "totaling a population at risk of more than 13.8 million".
"We thus make an urgent call for action on the part of local officials, donors, and international partners, to mitigate the risk of a new cholera epidemic wave in Yemen, which would certainly further weaken a highly vulnerable population."
Cholera is contracted by ingesting food or water contaminated with a bacterium carried in human faeces and spread through poor sanitation and dirty drinking water. Left untreated, it can kill within hours.
