Cancer rates soar in Yemen as Saudi aggression continues
The Minister of Health in Sanaa's government Taha Al-Mutawakel, says the number of cancer patients in Yemen is doubling as a result of the siege and Saudi-led aggression that prevents treatment from entering.
On World Cancer Day, the Minister of Health in the Sana'a government, Taha Al-Mutawakel, said Yemen's number of cancer patients has doubled as a result of aggressive attacks and the Saudi-led siege on the country.
He explained that more than 60,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed in oncology centers, with a lack of medicine, equipment, and the increase in children with leukemia is alarming.
More than 3,000 children in Yemen are at risk of death due to the siege and more than 2,000 children with diseases are deprived of receiving necessary care.
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The siege means patients cannot go anywhere for treatment, and the blockade means necessary equipment and medicines, and supplies are prevented from entering, pointing out that Sanaa airport's opening is a dire necessity for humanitarian needs.
Al-Mutawakel also pointed out that the UN has been called on to supervise the entry of nuclear medicine, which is necessary, and not permitted to enter due to the Saudi aggression.
The CEO of the Cancer Control Fund in Yemen, Abd Al-Salam Al-Madani said Yemen is suffering from the emergence of many cases as a result of the aggression and the use of prohibited weapons.
He added that the Saudi coalition aggressively continues to prevent entry to atomic scanning devices which can only be reached through Sanaa airport and through it we can alleviate the suffering of cancer patients, appealing to the World Health Organization (WHO) to play an active role in providing the humanitarian services.
For his part, the representative of the World Health Organization in Yemen, Adham Abdel Moneim said responsibility is shared to stop the spread of Cancer and that patients in Yemen are on a frightening increase.
On the first of last January, a fundraising campaign was launched in Sana'a and the rest of the Yemeni governorates to support cancer patients, whose number, according to the National Cancer Control Foundation, reached 20,000 cases in the capital in the last year.