More than 600,000 people are expected to contract cholera in Yemen this year as the war-torn country's healthcare system faces collapse, warned the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Sunday.

One in every 45 Yemenis will have contracted the disease by December as “a direct consequence of a conflict that has devastated civilian infrastructure and brought the whole health system to its knees,” the ICRC said in a statement.

More than 370,000 people have fallen ill and 1,800 have died since late April in Yemen's second cholera outbreak in less than a year, according to the ICRC and the World Health Organization.

A war between the government and Houthi rebels has killed thousands of people and displaced millions.

A string of vital ports along the country's Red Sea coastline are blockaded, leaving millions of people with limited access to food and medicine.

Less than half of the country's medical facilities are currently functional.

The war in Yemen, one of the world's most impoverished countries, has killed more than 8,000 people and wounded a further 44,500 since Saudi Arabia and its allies joined the conflict in 2015.

Opinion

Editorial

Words that wound
Updated 18 Jun, 2026

Words that wound

Hate speech rarely begins with physical attacks.
‘New urban province’
18 Jun, 2026

‘New urban province’

CONSIDERING the advance state of urban decay that affects Karachi, voices are often raised calling for the megacity,...
Punjab budget: mixed bag
18 Jun, 2026

Punjab budget: mixed bag

PUNJAB’S budget for FY27 is a mix of good and bad political choices, with a cash-strapped centre tightening the...
Spoiler alert
17 Jun, 2026

Spoiler alert

AFTER the temporary peace deal between the US and Iran is physically signed in Geneva on Friday, an arduous process...
Storm-tested cities
17 Jun, 2026

Storm-tested cities

THE deaths caused by the latest spell of monsoon rains in KP and Punjab illustrate how quickly severe weather can...
Chakwal tragedy
17 Jun, 2026

Chakwal tragedy

A NINE-year-old girl is dead because a Punjab Crime Control Department gunman mistook her family’s car for a...