Monday, 7 November 2016

Yemen conflict affects half of health facilities


Yemenis lie on hospital beds in Sanaa after a Saudi-led coalition air strike on a funeral hall (10 October 2016)Image copyrightEPA
Image captionAt least 7,070 people have been killed and 36,818 others injured since March 2015

More than half of the health facilities in war-torn Yemen are closed or partially functioning, a survey by the World Health Organisation has found.
Only 45% of the 3,507 facilities contacted in 16 out of Yemen's 22 provinces reported that they were fully functioning and accessible.
There were only two doctors or fewer in 42% of the 276 surveyed districts.
The WHO warned the lack of adequate health services meant people were being deprived of life-saving interventions.
Yemen has been devastated by an 18-month conflict between forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi's government, backed by a Saudi-led multinational coalition, and those allied to the Houthi rebel movement.
As of 25 October, at least 7,070 people have been killed and 36,818 others injured, according to data submitted by health facilities to the UN. The death toll does not provide a breakdown between civilians and combatants.

Eighteen-year-old Saida Ahmad Baghili sits on a hospital bed in the red sea port city of Hudaydah (25 October 2016)Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionTwo million people are malnourished across Yemen, according to the UN

More than three million people have also been displaced, and 21 million are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance.
Two million people are malnourished nationwide, including 370,000 children who are severely malnourished.
The WHO said the critical shortages in health services meant mothers and newborn babies were not receiving essential antenatal care, while people suffering from acute or chronic conditions were being forced to spend more on treatment or forgo treatment altogether.

A girl cries at a cholera treatment centre in Sanaa, Yemen (29 October 2016)Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionIn early October, Yemen's health ministry announced that there was a cholera outbreak

The absence of communicable diseases management had also increased the risk of outbreaks of cholera, measles, malaria and other endemic diseases, the UN agency warned.
In early October, Yemen's health ministry announced that there was a cholera outbreak. By the end of the month, there were 61 confirmed cases and 1,700 suspected cases in 10 provinces.
Four cholera-related deaths were also confirmed, along with 42 deaths associated with acute watery diarrhoea.

Map of control of Yemen (10 October 2016)

US election 2016: Trump team tries to ease global concern


Media captionDonald Trump's team says the "world has nothing to fear"

Donald Trump's campaign team has sought to allay negative views expressed overseas towards its candidate, a day before the US goes to the polls.
Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told the BBC such antipathy "doesn't reflect why Donald Trump is running and who he would be on the global stage".
She also attacked Hillary Clinton's "unremarkable to chequered" record as secretary of state.
Both candidates are undertaking a blitz of campaigning in key states on Monday.
The latest opinion poll, on Fox News on Monday, gave Mrs Clinton a four-point lead, double that of Friday.
Mr Trump has faced a barrage of criticism from some world figures during campaigning. French President Francois Hollande said the businessman made people "want to retch". The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights described him as a danger internationally.
Speaking to the BBC's Katty Kay, Ms Conway said negative attitudes overseas do "bother me" but defended Mr Trump's "America First" stance.
Mr Trump "does say America First and he means it", she said, spelling out the reasons - stopping the loss of American jobs overseas, making sure all partners, including Nato, pay their fair share and renegotiating trade deals that are bad for the US.

The views overseas


Media captionGermans give their opinions of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump


Ms Conway also responded to a jibe from President Barack Obama that Mr Trump could not be trusted with US nuclear codes.
The president, during a rally in Florida on Sunday, said that if Mr Trump could not be trusted with a Twitter account, he should not be in charge of US nuclear weapons.
He was referring to a New York Times report that Mr Trump's team had taken control of his Twitter account from him.
But Ms Conway denied the Times report and said Mr Trump could be trusted with the nuclear weapons.

Media captionHillary Clinton: "We will bring the country together"

She said that Mrs Clinton had herself "not proved to be qualified with nuclear codes" citing her use of a private email server for classified information when she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 in the Obama administration.
Ms Conway condemned Mrs Clinton for allegedly allowing her maid to print off classified documents.
On Sunday, the FBI's director said a fresh inquiry into the Democratic candidate's communications had found nothing to change the bureau's conclusion this summer that she should not face criminal charges.
Pointing to what she said was a series of foreign policy errors by Mrs Clinton, Ms Conway said: "The Russian reset was a joke, she owns the fake 'red-line' in Syria, she owns the lack of progress in North Africa and she certainly ownsBenghazi."

US election: The essentials


Asked why Mr Trump had been referring to Brexit in recent times, she said he was talking about how the UK's Remain camp had seemed "pretty robust" in the final days before the referendum, but that the Leave team were able to turn out their supporters.
She said: "But I told him just yesterday you should stop referring to Brexit, because it's actually the Trump effect, the fact that you have so motivated new voters and lapsed voters.
"If you waited four hours in traffic to go see him, there's no way you are not going out to vote tomorrow."
A new poll organised by the global political movement, the Good Country, asking 100,000 people from 130 countries who they would vote for, saw Mrs Clinton secure 52%, with Green Party candidate Jill Stein on 19%, ahead of Donald Trump on 14% and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson on 7%, with 8% abstaining.

'Healing and reconciliation'

The FBI ruling on the emails has cast a long shadow over the final full day of campaigning.

Media captionUS Election 2016: Which countries have already had female leaders?

The Clinton campaign said it was "glad" the lingering issue had been resolved. Donald Trump accused the FBI of impropriety. Both sides accused the FBI of bungling the case.
Mrs Clinton will not be addressing the emails issue on Monday, her team said, but instead pitching herself as the candidate of "healing and reconciliation".
As she boarded her plane ahead of her first rally on Monday, she said: "I have some work to bring the country together. I really do want to be the president for everybody, people who vote for me, people who vote against me."

The email affair


Mrs Clinton then told supporters in Pittsburgh they faced a choice "between division and unity, between steady leadership and a loose cannon".
She then heads to Michigan, a traditional Rust Belt, Democratic stronghold that has been heavily targeted by Mr Trump in recent days.
Mrs Clinton will go on to Philadelphia where she will be joined by President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, husband Bill Clinton, and Bruce Springsteen.

Chelsea Clinton and Barack Obama in Ann Arbor, MichiganImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionChelsea Clinton introduced Barack Obama in Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Democratic candidate will end her White House campaign with a midnight "get out the vote rally" in North Carolina.
Her daughter, Chelsea, wearing a "Make Herstory" T-shirt, appeared with Mr Obama early on Monday in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The president launched an excoriating attack on Mr Trump, saying: "It's bad being arrogant when you know what you're talking about, but it's really bad being arrogant when you don't know what you're talking about."
He told the crowd: "The fate of our democracy depends on what you do tomorrow."