Sélectionnez votre langue
WHO and KSrelief work together to improve water, sanitation and hygiene services in Yemen
Cairo, 5 January 2021- The World Health Organization (WHO) and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) are working together to improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in targeted health facilities and water quality monitoring and surveillance in cholera high-risk districts.
Through a new US$ 7 million award, a joint project will provide improved access and enhanced provision of water, sanitation and hygiene services to 45 health care facilities all over Yemen which had been identified with the most acute needs by the Health Cluster and the 2020 Humanitarian Response Plan.
Improved and safe management of health care waste practices will be implemented in 117 health facilities and 100 diarrhoea treatment centres to prevent bloodborne and hospital-acquired infections, including COVID-19.
Water quality surveillance will be conducted with the provision of potable water quality testing kits in 33 cholera high-risk districts. Three regional water quality testing laboratories will be established in vulnerable areas to ensure the availability of a safe water supply.
"Improved WASH services at the hospital level will allow the functionality of preventative health programmes, including newborn care, elimination of childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea and control of cholera," said Dr Adham Ismail, WHO Representative in Yemen.
"Through strengthening infection control practices and training health care personnel on safe waste management practices, the project will help enhance safe and environmentally sound management of health care waste and prevent adverse health and environmental impacts," he added.
Overall, the project will benefit over 653 000 people in priority cholera high-risk districts across Yemen.
The partnership is part of a broader US$ 46 million agreement between the 2 organizations, signed in September 2020, that also included 3 other projects on COVID-19 preparedness and response, nutrition, and the delivery of essential health services.
KSrelief has been the main funding partner of WHO Yemen in 2019–2020. Since October 2019, the partnership between the 2 organizations has helped preserve Yemen's health system, including through support to the most vulnerable. Continuous support from KSrelief has allowed WHO to facilitate the provision of life-saving medicines, including treatment for patients with chronic, life-threatening conditions, such as kidney failure. The partnership has also supported child immunization programmes and assistance to pregnant women for safe birth deliveries.
Note to correspondants
Sana'a, 21 December 2020 - The World Health Organization country office in Yemen denies what has been reported in local Yemeni media about the Organization's refusal to transfer abroad for treatment siamese twins that are currently being treated in a hospital in Sana'a.
The office calls on all media to be responsible, credible and accurate when reporting the news.
A new WHO-KSrelief partnership to support the delivery of essential health services in Yemen
Cairo, 14 December 2020 – The World Health Organization (WHO) and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) have started the implementation of a new project to support the delivery of essential health services in Yemen.
Funded at US$ 20.5 million, the project is part of a broader US$ 46 million agreement between the two organizations, signed in September 2020, that also included 3 other projects on COVID-19 preparedness and response, nutrition, and water and environmental sanitation services.
Under this new award, the Health Cluster will receive support for information management, the functionality of emergency operation centres and the operational costs of the cluster coordination offices, benefiting to up to 5.1 million people.
Critical support to the Minimum Service Package (MSP) will be provided, including in 15 hospitals located in priority districts as defined by a health needs-based assessment, to improve the population's access to secondary care.
The support for the MSP includes, but is not limited to, reproductive and maternal health, strengthened preparedness capacity and improving the capacity of health staff and pre-hospital and referral care. Up to 1.8 million people are targeted through this.
KSrelief has been the main funding partner of WHO in 2019–2020. Since October 2019, the partnership between the two organizations has helped preserve the health system in Yemen, including through support to the most vulnerable. Continuous support from KSrelief has allowed WHO to facilitate the provision of life-saving medicines, including treatment for patients with chronic, life-threatening conditions, such as kidney failure. The partnership has also supported child immunization programmes and assistance to pregnant women for safe birth deliveries.
About the humanitarian crisis in Yemen
Yemen remains the world's worst humanitarian crisis and the WHO's most complex operation. Some 24.3 million people – 80% of the population – now require humanitarian assistance or protection.
The health system is on the brink of collapse. More than 17.9 million people (out of the total population of 30 million) needed health care services in 2020. At the same time, only half of the health facilities are fully functioning. Those that remain open lack qualified health staff, essential medicines and medical equipment, such as masks and gloves, as well as oxygen and other necessary supplies.
About the Health Cluster in Yemen
The Yemen Health Cluster is responding to the health consequences of the conflict, severe economic downturn and COVID-19 pandemic in the country. To prevent indirect mortality from vaccine-preventable and treatable diseases, the Health Cluster has committed to maintaining essential health services and systems as emphasized in the 2020 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan extension and as outlined in the COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP). The Health Cluster has prioritized providing essential life-saving health services based on the Minimum Services Package (MSP).
Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and WHO join forces with the Government of Yemen to respond to COVID-19
Jeddah/Geneva, 12 October 2020 – The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have joined forces with Yemen’s Ministries of Health and Population and Planning and International Cooperation to provide emergency support to assist the country respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Built on Yemen’s national strategy to counter COVID-19, the partnership aims to reduce the occurrence and to minimize morbidity and mortality rates of COVID-19 in Yemen by strengthening the operational capacity of 32 specialized COVID-19 treatment centres and the laboratory testing capacity of 2 medical universities in the country.
Improving the preparedness of the target facilities shall comprise supporting the activation and equipping of the 32 COVID-19 treatment centres through the provision of monitoring devices for severe cases, portable pulse oximeter devices, oxygen cylinders, oxygen refilling, nebulizer devices, ultrasound, and other biomedical equipment.
Strengthening the protection of health care workers is also given high priority in the project through the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE), and expanding laboratory testing capacity via the provision of 150 000 testing kits. Essential medicines and medical supplies will also be provided to facilitate the treatment of critical COVID-19 patients.
With the start of the present pandemic, the IsDB Group allocated US $2.3 billion to counter the spread of the virus and to mitigate its economic impacts in its 57 member countries. In Yemen, the IsDB is providing a US $36.6 million COVID-19 support package, which includes US $20 million for the health sector.
The US $20 million “IsDB Group Emergency Support for the COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Project” is the first partnership between IsDB and WHO in Yemen and is part of the large-scale global response by the 2 organizations to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also part of IsDB’s pledge of US $100 million during the virtual donors conference on Yemen, jointly hosted by Saudi Arabia and the United Nations on 2 June 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic is amplifying Yemen’s underlying vulnerabilities as it comes on top of multiple challenges that the country is already facing including conflict, economic collapse, hunger, disease, and displacement. The combination of extreme vulnerability and low general immunity has put Yemeni population, particularly the children, at exceptional risk. Development partners are continuing to support Yemeni health authorities to respond to increasing health needs, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Note to editors
Yemen remains the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, and WHO’s most complex operation as some 24.3 million people – 80% of the country’s population – now require humanitarian or protection assistance, with 14 million people in acute need.
More than 5 years of conflict have devastated Yemen’s health infrastructure.
Seventeen million nine hundred thousand people out of the total population of 30 million need health care services in 2020. At the same time, only half of the health facilities are fully functioning, and those that remain open lack qualified healthcare staff, essential medicines, and medical equipment like masks and gloves, as well as oxygen and other necessary supplies.
For more information, please contact:
Mr Ahmed Ben Lassoued
Team Lead, Communication
WHO Yemen country office
IsDB Communications Department
