by Mohamed al-Azaki
SANAA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The sharp scent of chlorine fills the corridors of Al-Sabeen Hospital in central Sanaa. Cries of pain echo through the crowd. Fatigued faces line up for examinations, while others wait in fear that help may come too late.
"Since dawn, I have been feeling dizzy and exhausted, and I have severe diarrhea. I feel like my intestines are about to come out," Fatima, who was being carried by her husband and three children, told a nurse at the reception.
A nurse quickly directed her to the isolation ward -- a section now expanded by several white tents in the hospital's backyard, guarded by masked security staff.
In line, a mother was holding her six-month-old baby. "Since last night, she's been vomiting and suffering from diarrhea."
"The gas cylinder ran out yesterday, and my husband didn't have the money to refill it, so I had to prepare the baby's milk with regular tap water," the mother said.
Inside Al-Sabeen Hospital, health workers tirelessly spray chlorine on every surface -- floors, walls, doors, and ceilings -- in a constant battle to contain the outbreak.
Outside, the contrast is striking. Just beyond the hospital walls lies Al-Sabeen Square, a wide, clean, and elegant street where annual national celebrations, military parades, and weekly demonstrations are held in a show of force. But less than a mile away, sewage overflows from cracked and clogged pipes beneath the surrounding neighborhoods, flooding the streets and forming foul streams.
In Tahrir Square, also downtown Sanaa, popular restaurants and street vendors abound, cooking popular meals on the sidewalks and in the open air, including grilled chicken, meat, fried foods, and vegetables, despite the dense dust and swarms of flies.
Although the flood channels from Al-Sabeen to Tahrir and Sh'ub appear relatively clean, residential alleys are lined with piles of garbage and plastic bags, teeming with stray dogs and mice.
Further north, the flood paths become swamps filled with garbage and sewage, where insects, mosquitoes, flies, and rats thrive. The stench grows stronger near Sanaa International Airport, where rainwater and sewage converge in open spaces. Nearby, in Al-Azraqayn, sits the capital's largest open landfill -- a symbol of a system long overwhelmed.
Health authorities in Sanaa send weekly messages to residents' mobile phones, warning them of the dangers of acute watery diarrhea, and urging them to wash their hands with soap before eating and use clean drinking water. They also require all farmers to use clean well water and licensed fertilizers to spray crops.
However, Mohammed al-Naomi, a farmer from Sanna, told Xinhua that the high price of diesel -- which is needed to pump clean groundwater -- makes irrigation hardly affordable. Many farmers, he said, resort to using sewage in the dead of night for fear of being caught, as the practice is illegal.
According to reports from UN humanitarian organizations, thousands of Yemeni employees are no longer able to provide a single meal for their families per day since their salaries were cut off. Unemployment has become rampant since the outbreak of the war. Millions more are now dependent on foreign humanitarian aid.
In its latest report on Sept. 26, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the number of infections across Yemen since the beginning of the year has reached 72,260, including 201 deaths, ranking third globally in terms of cholera prevalence. However, the organization noted that the actual number in Yemen may be much higher.
In 2024, cholera killed 879 people out of more than 260,000 recorded cases. Between 2016 and 2023, over 2.5 million infections and more than 4,000 deaths were reported nationwide, the WHO said.
The ongoing conflict in Yemen has deepened the suffering of Yemenis since the outbreak of war more than a decade ago between the internationally recognized government backed by the Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-backed Houthi group. Yet, amid the sounds of war, another, quieter struggle continues -- one not born of politics, but of dirty water. ■
