UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The closure of all roads into Yemen's Taiz city affects all aspects of daily life and is preventing the delivery of urgently needed aid, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said shortages of fuel, oxygen, water, medicines, blood products and surgical supplies are worsening across Taiz governorate, while growing numbers of trauma patients are putting further strain on health services.
Across the country, healthcare continues to be targeted. Since the escalation began in August, 27 health facilities and seven ambulances have been damaged or destroyed, while six health workers have been killed, according to the World Health Organization.
In Taiz city, the nation's third-largest urban center, hospitals are relying on emergency stocks as fuel, oxygen, blood and surgical supplies run low.
The UN Population Fund said deliveries at Taiz city's main maternity hospital have halved, from around 10 a day to five a day, and that the number of incubators available for premature babies has dropped from 40 to 10 because of fuel shortages.
While cholera cases have declined for the third consecutive week, there have been more than 22,500 suspected measles cases and nearly 130 deaths. Children under the age of 5 accounted for four in five of those deaths, said OCHA.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said in a statement on Monday that civilians are paying a brutal price for the escalating conflict in Yemen, with nearly 300,000 people displaced since early August when the latest fighting erupted.
OCHA said its humanitarian partners have reached nearly 260,000 people, but needs are outpacing the response. Food, medicines and other supplies are ready to move, but roads must be reopened to let them through.
Fletcher also expressed outrage at the death of UN human rights colleague Mohammad el-Shami in Houthi custody. At least 70 UN staff and dozens of other humanitarians remain detained. The UN relief chief demanded their immediate release, stressing that humanitarians are civilians, not bargaining chips.
The UN reiterated its call for the protection of civilians and for safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access, particularly to communities increasingly cut off by the fighting. ■
