Yemen’s Cholera Crisis (Part II): Updates on Health and Education

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December 29th marked the 1000th of day of armed conflict in Yemen. Earlier this year, Yemen faced the worst cholera outbreak in recent history, affecting an estimated 1 million people. Although the cholera crisis has been largely contained, new challenges continue to emerge. Over the past months, Yemen has faced a blockade cutting off much-needed commercial and humanitarian access to the country, which has also been hit by increased Saudi-led airstrikes and a recent outbreak of diphtheria.  

Following up on our previous podcast discussion on the cholera outbreak in Yemen, this podcast explores elements of the ongoing response to this complex humanitarian crisis, as well as reflections on lessons learned over the last several months of fighting. In the first segment, we speak to humanitarian practitioners about the evolving response to cholera over the past months, and the effectiveness of the oral cholera vaccination (OCV) as both a preventative and reactive response in humanitarian settings. In the second segment, we turn our attention to education amidst the conflict. We discuss the impact of the ongoing conflict on the educational system within the country, and how intersecting factors such as famine, disease outbreak, and protection concerns - including as a result of attacks on education, the closure of schools, and  loss of educational infrastructure and teachers - have impacted children's access to learning.

In particular, this month’s podcast will focus on the following questions:

• How has the humanitarian situation in Yemen progressed in the past months since the outbreak of cholera? How effective is the oral cholera vaccination (OCV) as a preventative or reactive response in humanitarian settings?​
• Given the recent blockade of Yemen and deteriorating humanitarian access, is there a  possibility of a second cholera outbreak?  What could be the role of OCV in preventing such an outbreak?
• How has the ongoing conflict, recent disease outbreaks, malnutrition, and other protection concerns linked to the conflict impacted the ability of children to access education in Yemen? How are humanitarian responders working to address immediate educational needs and sustain educational infrastructure in Yemen for the longer term?

Speakers:

	Marc Poncin  Emergency Response Coordinator Médecins Sans Frontières, Operational Center of Geneva
	Hugues Robert Emergency Program Manager Médecins Sans Frontières, Switzerland
	Erinna Dia Head of Education UNICEF - Yemen

Resources: 

• Yemen: Humanitarian Response Plan, January - December 2018.  UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs/ UN Country Team in Yemen.  20 January 2018.
• Yemen Humanitarian Situation Report, November 2017.  UNICEF.
• "If the war doesn’t kill us, the food prices will."  Annie Slemrod and Nasser Al-Sakkaf.  IRIN News,  10 January 2018.
• Adapting to the global shortage of cholera vaccines: targeted single dose cholera vaccine in response to an outbreak in South Sudan.  Parker, L.A. et al.  Lancet Infectious Diseases.  18 January 2017.