Yemen continues to battle an outbreak of variant poliovirus, with 273 cases reported over the last three years amid a humanitarian crisis and declining vaccination rates, the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned today.

This World Polio Day, the data paints an alarming picture that polio, a disease that can cause irreversible paralysis and death, and which can be prevented by vaccination, continues to threaten the lives of children in Yemen. This comes at a time when Yemen’s children are faced with life threatening problems such as cholera, diphtheria, and malnutrition.