A+ A-

Saudi Arabia grants USD 33 mln for UNICEF anti-cholera programmes in Yemen

RIYADH, July 30 (KUNA) -- Saudi Arabia's King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre signed a USD 33 million grant with UNICEF on Sunday for programmes aimed at containing the cholera outbreak in Yemen.
The sum, which focuses primarily on water supply and environmental sanitation projects, is part of a wider USD 66.7 million package and comes in response to calls made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) over the cholera outbreak in the war-torn Arab country.
The funds were ordered by the Deputy King Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz himself, read a statement carried by the Saudi state news agency.
According to the statement, this response illustrates the keenness of the Saudi government to end the suffering of the Yemeni people, Royal Court Advisor and the humanitarian organisation's supervisor Abdullah Al-Rabia said.
Al-Rabia urged UNICEF and WHO to hastily implement the programmes, adding that the centre also plans to support WHO projects with another USD 8.2 million.
He noted to ongoing cooperation on the outbreak between the centre, the Yemeni and Saudi health ministries and UN agencies.
The Saudi official urged a "firm stance" against armed militias, which he accused of preventing the reach of humanitarian and medical aid to the Yemeni people.
Meanwhile, Representative ad interim at the UNICEF-Gulf Area Office, Shahida Azfar, expressed the organization's gratitude for the donation, aimed at fighting what she described as one of the worst outbreaks of the disease ever to hit the country.
Tainted water is one of the prime causes of the spread of cholera, she said, and UNICEF is in need of all the help it can get in order to create further initiatives to combat the disease. (end) mdm.sd