Shipment process under way on 13 May 2024 at CPHL in Aden, Yemen. Photo credit: WHO/K. Mayas8 July 2024 – Influenza virus sharing is essential to prepare the world against pandemics. Virus sharing also enables the development of candidate vaccine viruses, surveillance for resistance to antiviral medicines, and revision of diagnostic reagents and test kits.

Owing to the ongoing conflict in Yemen, the country has been unable to share virus samples every year with the WHO Collaborating Centers under the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS). On 14 May 2024, Yemen succeeded for the first time in shipping the first 50 samples of seasonal influenza viruses to the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in London.

During the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health and Population designated the Central Public Health Laboratories (CPHL) as the National Influenza Centre. Following the COVID-19 emergency, Yemen has adapted its respiratory disease surveillance system to monitor both influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses. This was done with support from WHO headquarters and the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Since then, Yemen has been expanding its services for the subtyping of influenza and other respiratory viruses to feed into this new national integrated surveillance programme and GISRS.

Headquarters and Regional Office experts arranged a mission to Yemen in March 2022 in coordination with the WHO Country Office in Yemen. The mission’s aims were to reactivate influenza sentinel sites, which had been suspended during the COVID-19 emergency; train Ministry of Public Health and Population and CPHL staff on virus testing and on sharing influenza viruses with human pandemic potential, as per the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework; and to ensure that CPHL has met the WHO requirements for testing procedures for respiratory viruses.

As of January 2023, samples are being collected at influenza sentinel sites. They are then shipped to the CPHL’s governorate-level National Centre for confirmation by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. The next step should be to share confirmed samples with the WHO Collaborating Centre in London. Logistics have, however, prevented this until May 2024.

Dry ice, needed to ship samples internationally, has been unavailable in Yemen since 2015 owing to the war and an embargo. With support and facilitation from WHO, however, dry ice was received in Aden from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This was transported via a United Nations Humanitarian Air Service flight from Addis Ababa to Aden; the same plane then took the packaged samples on to Amman, Jordan. The samples made the last leg of their journey, from Amman to London, via international courier.

The same coordination mechanism will be used for future shipments of influenza virus samples until Yemen is able to produce dry ice.

29 May 2024, Aden, Yemen – Nearly US$ 9.5 million in funding has been secured for critical health projects in Yemen – a pivotal step in strengthening the country’s health system. WHO signed the significant agreement with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) at the opening of the Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

The projects funded under the agreement will target 12.6 million people in Yemen across various governorates. Projects will focus on improving access to safe water, preventing the spread of infectious diseases and enhancing the health system’s capacity to respond to outbreaks. These efforts are expected to significantly reduce morbidity and mortality rates and enhance the overall resilience of Yemen’s health infrastructure.

The agreement reflects the ongoing commitment by WHO and KSrelief to address Yemen’s pressing health needs. It was signed by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, and His Excellency Dr Abdullah Al Rabeeah, Supervisor General of KSrelief, in the presence of Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.

“This agreement signifies a strong partnership and a shared vision for a healthier future for Yemen,” said Dr Arturo Pesigan, WHO Representative to Yemen. “The funding from KSrelief will be invaluable in strengthening our efforts in water, sanitation and hygiene services; acute watery diarrhea response; and measles surveillance and response. This funding will make a substantial difference to the lives of those people most in need.”

Mr. Saleh Al-Theebani, Director of KSrelief's Aden branch, appreciated the partnership between KSrelief and WHO aimed at providing life-saving interventions for the Yemeni people. He emphasized that this new funding is part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's ongoing support to alleviate suffering and ensure access to essential health services across the country

KSrelief has been a steadfast supporter of Yemen for years, providing vital resources and expertise to address the country’s health challenges. Through its cumulative contribution of US$ 320 million to WHO, KSrelief has played a key role in supporting humanitarian and health response operations in Yemen.

Media contacts

WHO Yemen Communications

Email: Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.

About WHO

Since 1948, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been the United Nations agency dedicated to advancing health for all, so that everyone, everywhere can attain the highest level of health. WHO leads global efforts to expand universal health coverage, direct and coordinate the world’s responses to health emergencies and connect nations, partners and people to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.

About KSrelief

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) is a humanitarian aid organization established by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. KSrelief is dedicated to coordinating and providing international relief to alleviate suffering and provide essential services to those in need.

Entomological surveillance workshop for malaria in Socotra. Photo credit: M. Al Amoody 25 April 2024, Socotra Island and Tehama region, Yemen – Despite persistent efforts to prevent and control malaria in Yemen, about two thirds of the population remain at risk of the disease.

With World Bank support via the Emergency Human Capital Project (EHCP), WHO implements key interventions to deliver a tailored approach to malaria management at country level in line with the burden of disease. This includes capacity-building for malaria focal points and the rollout of indoor residual spraying campaigns for affected communities and those at risk.

WHO supported an indoor residual spraying campaign in the Tehama region, to cover Yemen’s 2310 highest malaria-burden neighbourhoods, in February 2024. The campaign directly protects more than 540 000 people from malaria and dengue, across 86 000 homes sprayed. It also indirectly protects more than 2 million people in targeted and neighbouring districts.

More than 780 spraying workers, 160 team leaders and 93 field supervisors carried out the campaign. This intervention builds on the last spraying campaign conducted by WHO under EHCP in the same region in November and December 2022.

Some areas of the country, such as Socotra Island, have made tremendous progress, and are working towards the goal of having no local malaria transmission. Socotra started working towards malaria elimination in 2000, with no local cases reported since 2005.

In March 2023, WHO conducted a pre-elimination assessment on the island, in line with WHO guidelines to identify any gaps and boost readiness in case malaria is imported from other parts of the country or abroad. This is a particular risk due to the frequency of tropical cyclones affecting Socotra, as well as the impacts of climate change and the humanitarian situation in Yemen and nearby countries.

>Following this assessment, a training of trainers session was conducted, in February 2024, for 20 malaria staff from Hadhramaut, Marib and Socotra governorates. This sought to enhance their skills in surveillance, diagnosis, case management and vector control.

Soon after the training, in Socotra, reports were received of an imported suspected malaria case. The trained staff moved quickly to implement active case detection – based on the protocol learned at the session – including clinical diagnosis, rapid diagnostic testing, and laboratory confirmation. The case tested positive, having recently travelled to Socotra from Hudaydah, a high-burden governorate. The individual was provided a course of treatment and was followed up until fully recovered.