Houthi restrictions on child vaccination campaigns threaten spread of epidemic diseases

Yemen’s Minister of Information Muammar Al-Eryani warned against the Houthis’ continued restrictions on child immunization programs in the capital of Sanaa and other areas under the militia’s control.

Al-Eryani said the restrictions imposed by the Houthis on child vaccination campaigns could lead to the emergence and spread of a number of epidemic diseases that Yemen had previously been declared free from.

He said that Houthi practices have led to the emergence of hundreds of cases of polio after Yemen was declared free from the disease in 2009.

Polio reappeared in Yemen in 2019 with an infection recorded in the governorate of Saada. In 2020, the minister said, 30 cases were recorded in Saada and one in Sanaa. In 2021, polio spread to other regions, and by mid-2022, 160 cases were detected.

The Houthi militia has also committed 230 violations of the UN-brokered truce on Friday and Saturday on the war fronts of Hodeidah, Taiz, Dhale, Hajjah, Saadah, Jouf and Marib.

Source: Arab News