Sélectionnez votre langue
Public and private sectors join forces to deliver lifesaving COVID-19 supplies in Yemen
Click here to view the multimedia assets
19 June 2020, Aden and Sana’a, Yemen — Aircraft carrying a total of 43 tons of laboratory supplies, ventilators, test kits, PCR machines and vital PPE to fight COVID-19 have arrived in Yemen, thanks to a donation to the World Health Organization (WHO) facilitated by the Hayel Saeed Anam Foundation on behalf of the International Initiative on COVID-19 in Yemen (IICY), a collaborative partnership of multinational companies and the United Nations.
“This donation comes at a critical time. It will have a massive and immediate impact on the ground helping to fill the gaps in Yemen’s hospitals and laboratories countrywide,” said Mr Auke Lootsma, acting Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen. “We welcome this extraordinary public-private partnership whose goal is to serve the people of Yemen. As the United Nations marks its 75th anniversary during an unprecedented global health crisis with severe economic and social impacts, this partnership is an example of how we can work together with the private sector to face humanitarian threats.”
IICY brings together partners from the public and private sectors, chaired by the Hayel Saeed Anam Foundation and including Unilever, Tetra Pak, the United Nations, the Yemen Private Sector Cluster and the Federation of Yemen Chambers of Commerce and Industry, in an effort to support the actions already being taken by WHO and local public health authorities to respond to the invisible threat of the novel coronavirus.
A fragile health system battling an invisible threat
The first case of COVID-19 in Yemen was declared in April, and the threat of full blown transmission of the virus looms large, spurring WHO and health authorities to fast-track efforts to ensure the establishment of isolation units, quarantine facilities, and clinical management training for the country’s remaining health care workforce.
Mr Nabil Hayel Saeed Anam, Chair of the International Initiative on COVID-19 in Yemen said:
“The deadly COVID-19 pandemic threatens to overwhelm a health care infrastructure already under enormous strain in Yemen. We stand on the brink of catastrophe and our best hope of responding is by working together. The International Initiative on COVID-19 in Yemen believes in the power of partnership. We are united in our desire to help Yemen prevail and by getting much needed medical supplies to WHO and other authorities, we can help make that happen.”
The 43-ton shipment of medical and laboratory supplies, obtained by the Hayel Saeed Anam Foundation on behalf of IICY, contains in total 426 ventilators, more than 1 million pieces of PPE, 34 000 COVID-19 nucleic acid test kits, 28 000 virus collection kits, 10 centrifuges, as well as other essential hospital and laboratory equipment. Delivery of the 43-ton aid shipment is being managed by the World Food Programme (WFP), with flights arriving in Sana’a and Aden, for onward distribution to hospitals and laboratories across Yemen by United Nations agencies.
Yemen is entering its almost sixth year of conflict, and the fragile health system and a population that has survived on food aid for years lives in fear. The health system in Yemen is only functioning at 50%, and health system functionality, such as access and capacity of health care personnel, is at less than 40%. Chronic malnutrition has left Yemenis vulnerable, their weakened immune systems a prime target for this virus.
Recent estimates based on modelling scenarios by the Imperial College London on the potential impact of the virus on Yemen are dire, predicting an estimated worst case scenario of over 64 000 deaths and more than 460 000 in need of hospitalisation in a population of 30 million.
As part of readiness and response efforts WHO and health authorities have established 59 isolation units, with over 675 ICU beds, and over 309 ventilators. 21 600 rapid tests have also been provided.
As the world continues its fight against this global pandemic, it must not forget countries like Yemen that need their support. The resources being donated by the Hayel Saeed Anam Foundation on behalf of IICY will provide the boost of supplies the COVID-19 response in Yemen desperately needs.
Notes to editors
About the International Initiative on COVID-19 in Yemen
The International Initiative on COVID-19 in Yemen (IICY) is a collaborative partnership of businesses and international organisations united by a desire to assist Yemen’s response to COVID-19, at a critical time for the country and its people. IICY partners have joined together to work collaboratively to help international organisations and the Yemeni authorities respond to COVID-19 and help tackle challenges on the ground. Brought together and chaired by the Hayel Saeed Anam Foundation, IICY aims to make use of its partners’ collective operational expertise, resources and knowledge to assist the Yemeni and international authorities and support communities in need. IICY will seek to help strengthen Yemen’s resilience in the face of the global pandemic and enable clinical and scientific experts to respond effectively to COVID-19. IICY’s founding members include the Hayel Saeed Anam Foundation, Tetra Pak, Unilever, the United Nations, the Yemen Private Sector Cluster and the Federation of Yemen Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
For further information, please contact:
IICY:
UN in Yemen:
Health care workers in the frontlines of the struggle against COVID-19
15 June 2020 – “I wished desperately that COVID-19 wouldn’t reach Yemen, as we are already suffering from cholera, diphtheria, dengue, malaria and malnutrition compounded with the ongoing conflict that has wrecked the already appalling health system,” said Khaled Mohammed, a laboratory technician in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 department in the Central Laboratory in Sana’a.
Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and it is now facing another major threat to health security — COVID-19. If countries with well developed health systems are struggling to contain the virus, the effects on Yemen with just 50% of its health system operational will be catastrophic.
Almost 6 years of ongoing conflict have pushed the country into uncertainty and left its population vulnerable even before COVID-19, leaving it with a collapsed social and civic infrastructure, a frail economy, and a fragile health system. 19.7 million people are in need of access to health care.
“As we were watching the news of COVID-19 ravaging the whole world, with my country as one of the last ones to join the battle, I felt fearful. To watch it on the news and hear about it and to be constantly faced with the risk of contracting it since I’m running COVID-19 tests is a completely different story.”
Due to the ongoing conflict, health workers are not receiving their salaries. Still, they are working tirelessly to respond to the COVID-19 crisis in addition to a host of other communicable and noncommunicable diseases which continue to affect people across the country.
These health workers are the real heroes of the crisis
“Yes, I’m afraid for my health and my family’s, but as long as I can provide help, I will never stay aside. I’m working 24 hours tirelessly in the PCR section to run the COVID-19 tests. And this is the least I can do.”
Now more than ever, all health partners need to galvanize efforts in the fight against COVID-19 and other dangerous diseases that will continue to pose a threat in the lives of Yemenis.
“We are putting our lives at an unprecedented risk to save you and your families, I call on all Yemenis to be extremely vigilant and protect themselves. We are working for you, please stay home for us.”
WHO provided German-made COVID-19 test kits to Yemen and another 120 countries
2 June 2020 – A recent press statement issued by local health authorities in Sana'a over the weekend made mention of the "ineffectiveness and inefficiency" of solutions and swabs that are part of the COVID-19 PCR testing kits provided to Yemen. The statement further went on to say that as a result of this, false positive results were generated when "non-human and unexpected samples" were tested, the findings of which would be revealed by local health authorities in a press conference in the coming days.
As a matter of clarification, the batch of almost 7000 COVID-19 test kits provided to Yemen by WHO are the same PCR test kits provided to another 120 countries. WHO provided over 6 million PCR test kits to 120 countries worldwide, and an estimated 2 million of these kits were manufactured by TIB Molbiol, a company based in Germany. The TIB Molbiol PCR test kits are the ones Yemen received.
The importation of all medical supplies, medical equipment and consumables is subject to approval by national health authorities.
Criteria for use and distribution of PCR test kits
WHO follows rigorous criteria when adopting a test for use and wide distribution to its Member States. WHO criteria for a test provider, at the time the decision was made to work with this particular manufacturer, TIB Molbiol, included ensuring that this company and its products met ISO standards. ISO standards are used by countries worldwide to ensure that quality and safety of products and services destined for international trade meet global standards. The PCR test kits manufactured by TIB Molbiol met ISO standards (ISO: 13485) for quality manufacturing. The kits were tested and validated by 3 external laboratories and the validation results were published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Related link
Health care workers, a fragile health system and the looming spectre of COVID-19 in Yemen
Dr Ali Abdulla, laboratory specialist and health director at the National Center of Public Health Laboratories in Sana’a
27 May 2020 – “I can only spend half an hour with my 7 children each day before I leave to work in the morning, since my workday doesn’t end until 3:00 a.m.,” says Dr Ali Abdulla, laboratory specialist and health director at the National Center of Public Health Laboratories in Sana’a. Since the beginning of the pandemic in Yemen, Dr Ali has been working non-stop in the laboratory despite the fact that he has not been paid in months.
On 10 April 2020, the Ministry of Public Health and Population announced the first laboratory confirmed case of the coronavirus in Hadramout in Yemen. As of now, local health authorities are reporting 126 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 19 associated deaths from several governorates.
“We hope that health workers in laboratories across the country who support the testing of COVID-19 are not forgotten. Our families need our support, just like the health system in Yemen needs us to support it,” he adds.
Reduced operational capacity of 50% of health facilities that are still functional affect the productivity of health workers and overwhelms them. Not to mention the limited number of skilled health workforce that is vulnerable; there are no doctors in 18% of districts across the country and most health personnel have not received salaries for more than 2 years making the system unable to fill the deficit in human resources for health. In addition to the brain drain which has led to loss of many of the most skilled health professionals who have been forced to flee the country for reasons of security and safety.
Dr Ali Abdulla conducting a COVID-19 training of RRTs at the National Center of Public Health Laboratories in Sana’a
The health care workforce in Yemen – these men and women are the country’s true heroes
For weeks now, a United Nations-wide COVID-19 task force has been scaling up preparedness and response efforts, harnessing the capacity of the entire UN country team in Yemen, to ensure we have a fighting chance. However, the unprecedented financial gap WHO is facing under the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan is not allowing us to continue the payments beyond March. Despite Yemen being the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, the availability of funds remains a concern and the response plan remains heavily under-funded.
“As yet another public health risk threatens to ravage the country, now more than ever, countries like Yemen need a protected WHO. I call on all parties, all partners, and authorities to safeguard the vital work of WHO and the United Nations system in Yemen. Only with unity, solidarity, and collective action can the lives of millions of innocent Yemenis be spared from this potential catastrophe,” says Altaf Musani, Representative of WHO in Yemen.
