SANAA – Trash piling up on the streets of Yemeni towns is helping the spread of dengue fever and malaria, a charity employing local people to clear up the filth said on Wednesday, as fighting, baking heat and a lack of food and water add to their hardships.

Garbage lying in the streets has contaminated soil and water and attracted infectious pests, Mercy Corps said. Mosquitoes carrying dengue fever and malaria breed and lay eggs in puddles.

At least 8,000 people in the port city of Aden have contracted dengue fever since the present crisis began five months ago; cases of typhoid have been recorded and there are reports of malaria.

The U.S.-based charity pays local youths a daily wage to remove the waste and dispose of it safely, giving them paid work and improving living conditions for other city residents.

“People are glad to see their streets cleaner,” said Jonathan Bartolozzi, a Mercy Corps spokesman.

Since fighting between Iranian-allied Houthi rebels and a Saudi Arabian-led military coalition broke out in March, the World Health Organization says that more than 4,300 people have been killed and more than 22,000 wounded.

The country lacks basic supplies and 80 percent of the population needs help to meet their basic needs – food, water, healthcare and shelter, according to the U.N. Development Program.

Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said on Tuesday that Yemen was “crumbling.”

“Every family in Yemen has been affected by this conflict,” he said after a three-day visit to the country.