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Statement by WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean on COVID-19 in Yemen
Collective action and commitment is the only way to mitigate the pandemic
2 May 2020 - To date, there are seven confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the south of Yemen, including two deaths, as declared by national authorities. No other cases have been officially reported to WHO, although we anticipate the virus is actively circulating throughout the country.
Best practices have shown that when people are informed and warned about outbreaks early on, and where measures are in place to test, trace, isolate and care for cases, transmission of the virus can be controlled.
More than 215 countries, territories and areas have reported cases of the virus to date, and the pandemic has overwhelmed some of the most advanced and sophisticated health systems in the world. After five years of war, Yemen’s health system is fragile and facing catastrophic shortages. COVID-19 supplies in country are grossly insufficient.
Since the declaration of the pandemic, we have been presenting various evidence-based scenarios to ensure that health authorities have the full picture of how this virus may potentially affect 16 million men, women and children who make up over 50% of the population.
Operating on the assumption that community transmission is already taking place across the country, WHO and partners continue to support national and health counterparts with the limited resources at hand. Additional resources are being mobilised, in the context of major global shortages of essential supplies and equipment to respond to COVID-19. We continue to prioritize the most vulnerable and are working to identify ways of ensuring that a more reliable supply chain is established.
Health authorities are providing capacities for testing, treating and isolating suspected and confirmed cases, relying on established nation-wide hotlines and 333 rapid response health teams in the country who are working 24/7 to detect, investigate, test and refer suspected cases to designated health facilities.
Health authorities have also enhanced COVID-19 capacities in four central public health laboratories in Sana’a, Aden, Sayoun, and Taiz, which have full capacity to test for COVID-19. Four more public health laboratories will soon have similar capacity.
As long as even one case is unidentified and not properly treated, isolated and contacts traced, COVID-19 will continue to pose a significant threat to the Yemeni people and the country’s struggling health system.
Even in resource-poor settings, collective action integrating the full commitment of government, community groups, and the private sector can effectively mitigate the impact of the pandemic.
WHO, in partnership with UNFPA, ensures availability and access to lifesaving reproductive health services in Yemen
Health worker performing ultrasound at Al-Wadhah health centre in Taiz
27 April 2020 – Yemen was struggling with a poor reproductive health system even before the situation was worsened by the war which pushed millions of people into further vulnerability and the health system into near collapse. In 2020, 3.75 million women and girls of reproductive age and 600 000 who would become pregnant or deliver are at risk of mortality and morbidity. The health system is functioning at half capacity, with only one third of functioning health facilities providing reproductive health services due to staff shortages, lack of supplies, inability to meet operational costs or damage due to conflict. The need to continue supporting health facilities across the country with critical reproductive maternal and newborn health service is crucial.
WHO and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) partner with the support of UAE aid to build the capacity of health systems and community-based services to ensure access and increased availability of emergency reproductive health services for women, especially pregnant women and vulnerable communities impacted by the ongoing conflict.
After 16 years of trying, (F.M.S) became pregnant in a remote village on a rocky mountain in Hajjah governorate where basic services like health, water and transportation are not available. The nearest health facility (Azan health centre) is almost an hour and a half away on rough terrain by car. The hardship of transportation did not stop her from seeking regular check-ups at the centre, during which time she discovered she was carrying twins. (F.M.S) delivered her twin baby boys Iyad and Muayyad safely. She and her husband are grateful to see their twins safe and healthy.
A woman receiving reproductive health care in WHO/UNFPA-supported Al Thawra hospital in Al HodeidaAzan health centre is supported by WHO and UNFPA. The centre serves about 730 500 people, of whom about 36.5 thousand are male, 37 thousand female and about 16 000 are women of childbearing age.
Millions of women and girls in need of further support
UNFPA estimates 6 million women and girls of childbearing age (15 to 49 years) are in need of support. Increasing food shortages have left more than one million pregnant and lactating women malnourished, who risk giving birth to newborns with severe stunted growth. In addition, an estimated 144 000 women are likely to develop complications during childbirth.
Khayal is 21 years old. She was 9-months pregnant and ready to give birth at home attended by a midwife. But complications led to severe bleeding and they had to rush her to Mokha maternal and child health hospital where she was provided with medical care. “After the doctor examined me, I was informed that my baby has died due to the amount of bleeding. If I had not come to the centre I would have died too,” says Khayal. The loss of her baby was an agonizing experience, yet her family was grateful for the second chance at life with which she was blessed.
The partnership between WHO and UNFPA through the support of UAE aid has helped serve 103 health facilities in 17 governorates across Yemen. Between October 2019 and February 2020 alone, nearly 200 000 women and girls were protected with lifesaving reproductive health services, over 60 000 people reached with family planning services, and some 74 000 safe deliveries were supported. In addition to over 4000 caesarean sections successfully carried out.
Increased and continued funding is needed to continue the provision of emergency reproductive health services to women and girls. If no further funding is received by April 2020, reproductive health services at the 103 of currently supported health facilities will have to be discontinued.
Thalassemia patients supported by the Emergency Health and Nutrition Project
Thalassemia patient receiving a blood transfusion
19 April 2020 – Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder. Specialized care across the lifespan of a thalassemia patient can help them lead a normal and healthy life. Thalassemia is a treatable disorder that can be well managed with blood transfusions and chelation drugs.
Patients suffering from thalassemia and blood disorders are benefiting from services provided by the national blood and transfusion centres supported by the Emergency Health and Nutrition Project.
In 2019, WHO in partnership with the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), under the framework of the Emergency Health and Nutrition Project supported national blood transfusion centres in Sana’a, Aden, Al Hudaydah, Taiz, Abyan, Al Mukalla and Ibb governorates. In addition to establishing new ones in Sayoun and Hajjah. Thanks to this partnership, in 2019 alone, over 73 500 people were provided with life-saving blood transfusion services.
Ministry of Health in Aden confirms the first case of COVID-19 in Yemen
10 April 2020, Yemen – Today, the Ministry of Public Health and Population in Aden announced the first laboratory confirmed case of coronavirus in Yemen. The individual who has tested positive has been isolated and is being treated in a local hospital where he is currently in a stable condition. Specially trained rapid response teams are tracing, and where appropriate, isolating everyone who has come into contact with him.
“For weeks we have feared this, and now it’s happened. COVID-19 is in Yemen,” said Lise Grande, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen.
“After 5 years of war, people across the country have some of the lowest levels of immunity and highest levels of acute vulnerability in the world,” said Ms Grande. “What’s facing Yemen is frightening. More people who become infected are likely to become severely ill than anywhere else.”
“Only half of all health facilities are currently functioning,” said Ms Grande. “Fighting the virus is going to be hard, but it’s our highest priority.”
“We’re doing everything we can to prevent further spread of the virus and to help authorities be ready to treat people if they contract it,” said Altaf Musani, the WHO Representative for Yemen.
“Our aim is to bend the epi-curve. This is why we are calling on communities to practise social distancing and to stay at home and practise protective behaviours,” said Mr Musani.
WHO is providing medical supplies, testing kits, ventilators and training and is helping to accelerate information campaigns and strengthen surveillance capacities. “We need the support of authorities to get in supplies and allow us to make sure they reach the right facilities at the right time,” said Ms Grande.
“This is one of the biggest threats in the past 100 years to face Yemen,” said Ms Grande. “It’s time for the parties to stop fighting each other and start fighting COVID together.”
Yemen remains the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. Nearly 80% of the population requires some form of humanitarian assistance and protection. Ten million people are a step away from famine and 7 million people are malnourished. Of the United Nations’s 41 major humanitarian programmes, 31 will either reduce or shut during April unless funding is urgently received.
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