Turkey sends TL 20 million in aid to cholera-hit Yemen.
Battling a cholera epidemic against the backdrop of an ongoing conflict, Yemen receives a lifeline from Turkey, which dispatched a vessel carrying TL 20 million worth of humanitarian aid to the country yesterday A ship carrying medical aid worth TL 20 million ($4.4 million) departed for Yemen from a southern Turkish port yesterday.
The ship, sent by the Health Ministry as part of an aid campaign for the conflict-ridden country battling cholera, is the first batch of aid set to be sent to Yemen.
Health Minister Recep Akdağ met a high-level Yemeni Health Ministry official in Geneva in May and received a briefing from the Yemeni ambassador to Ankara last month about the cholera epidemic.
It would arrive in Yemen earlier if we had permission," he said.
Limited access to clean water and food in Yemen gave rise to cholera killing more than 1,500 people, and children constitute one-fourth of the deceased.
The Turkish Health Ministry also treats sick Yemenis.
It recently sent medicine and medical equipment to Somalia, which is also battling a cholera epidemic.
The Turkish Red Crescent also sent a humanitarian aid vessel carrying 24 tons of medicine and medical equipment to Somalia last month.
According to UN officials, more than 10,000 people have been killed in the war, while more than 11 percent of the country’s population has been displaced as a direct result of the conflict.