Yemen's cancer patients face uphill battle amid war

The destruction of a cancer hospital in the embattled city of Taiz has dimmed hopes for cancer patients as they struggle to find adequate treatment.

Vital provisions such as food, medicine, fuel, medical equipment, batteries, solar panels and more are not getting through to Yemen due to a Saudi-led blockade. January 11, 2018
TRTWorld

Vital provisions such as food, medicine, fuel, medical equipment, batteries, solar panels and more are not getting through to Yemen due to a Saudi-led blockade. January 11, 2018

Yemeni cancer patients are struggling to find treatment after fighting destroyed the only cancer hospital in the besieged city of Taiz. 

"We want people to help us. This disease has become widespread. The medicine supply is starting to decrease. We want people to help, because there are a lot of cancer patients in Yemen, " says a cancer patient, Khatima Saeed. 

Houthi rebels, who swept across Yemen in 2014 when they overthrew former president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi's internationally-recognised government in 2015, hold the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, where most of the country's 25 million people live.

The conflict – widely seen as a proxy war between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran – has displaced more than two million people, caused a cholera epidemic and pushed the country to the brink of famine. At least 10,000 people have been killed.

TRT World's Abubakr al Shamahi reports from Taiz. 

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