YEMEN, Mar 18: The World Health Organisation says a diphtheria outbreak in war-torn Yemen has spread rapidly nationwide and infected more than 1,300 people.
The WHO said in a statement that children and young adults account for almost 80 per cent of cases and more than 70 people have died.
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Diphtheria, first reported in Yemen in October last year, is a contagious and potentially fatal disease that primarily infects the throat and airways.
The WHO said on Friday that a vaccination campaign targeting 2.7 million Yemeni children has been completed in 11 governorates.
Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war pitting a Saudi-led coalition backing an internationally recognised government against Iran-backed Shiite rebels since March 2015.
The near three-year stalemated war has damaged Yemen’s infrastructure, crippled the health system and pushed it to the brink of famine.
