Yemen has been facing a multi-pronged infectious disease health crisis exacerbated by declining vaccination coverage and limited access to health services in remote areas, according to a recent report published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The reported found that "Since March 2024, a total of 339,371 suspected cholera cases and 1,102 deaths have been reported across Yemen, indicating a case fatality rate (CFR) of 0.32 per cent, making the country among the top three countries globally with the highest number of suspected cases in 2025.
The continued spread is fuelled by lack of safe water and sanitation services, poor food hygiene practices, delays in seeking healthcare, and limited access to timely lifesaving treatment.
The report also mentioned that widespread gaps in immunization coverage continue to leave millions of Yemeni children vulnerable to deadly yet vaccine preventable diseases such as Measles . Currently, only 66 per cent of children in the country are fully immunized, largely due to community misconceptions and restrictions on vaccination campaigns in the northern governorates.
Overall, in 2025, a total of 23,817 confirmed cases of measles have been reported in Yemen, including 214 deaths.
In 2025, 30 cases of variant poliovirus, have been reported across 10 governorates, with 29 of them in the northern governorates. The high number of cases indicates weak immunity against the variant poliovirus, primarily due to low vaccination coverage among children under five.
Another vaccine preventable disease is a concern in Yemen, that being diphtheria, with 110 confirmed cases and 63 deaths (CFR 57.27%), two-thirds of which are in children under the age of 15, of whom 68 per cent are unvaccinated.
Malaria threatens 64 per cent of the population, particularly pregnant women and young children western areas, which account for 88 per cent of cases.
Dengue fever surged in 2025, with over 24,000 suspected cases and 67 deaths reported across 15 governorates - representing a 36 per cent increase compared to 2024. The detection of dengue virus types 3 and 4 in Aden and Lahj also raises alarm due to higher risks of severe symptoms and mortality.