On 9 August, the UN Security Council called on the parties to the conflict in Yemen to allow ‘unfettered and sustained access’ to humanitarian aid.
An estimated 5000 people a day are being infected as this waterborne disease rages across the country.
Yemen is in the grip of one of the world’s worst ever cholera epidemics because its health system is collapsing with more than half of all health facilities closed because of damage, destruction or lack of funds.
Much of the destruction of the health services, facilities and sanitation infrastructure is a result of the indiscriminate bombing strikes by the Saudi-led coalition forces that support the Hadi government.
It’s also easily preventable, simply by washing your hands with clean water and eating food that has been boiled or cooked.
ICRC President Peter Maurer issued a statement after a visit at the end of July that made clear his view this outbreak is manmade.
He said the parties to conflict had to stop the attacks on hospitals, and electricity and water plants.
At the Yemen emergency donors conference in Geneva in April, the international community pledged US$1.1 billion.
This was half the amount that the UN estimated was needed to avert the humanitarian catastrophe.
So far the supporters of the Saudi-led coalition that has wrought so much destruction on Yemen and thus contributed to this cholera scandal are the same countries that have been the most generous in their aid pledges.