Sélectionnez votre langue
Internally displaced persons from Hudaydah endure harsh circumstances in Sana'a
Dissipated sense of security
With the recent escalation of conflict in the port town of Al-Hudaydah, thousands of people were forced to flee to the capital city Sana’a to escape the insecurity and increasing poverty, malnutrition and disease outbreaks. These displaced people include Yemen’s most vulnerable: the elderly, pregnant women, people who carry the burden of chronic illnesses, and caregivers who bear the responsibility of providing for their children.
Abu Bakr school in Sana’a serves as a transit facility for many displaced families from Al-Hudaydah who have nowhere else to go. Through its partnership with the World Bank under the Emergency Health and Nutrition Project (EHNP), WHO has provided the transit facility with emergency medicines and health supplies for 1000 medical consultations. Support from the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) also enabled WHO to provide medicines for 200 patients suffering from hypertension, diabetes and psychosis.
Weighed down by harsh circumstances and forced displacement
Being from Al-Hudaydah, many displaced families are not used to the colder weather in Sana’a and have not yet acclimated to it. Their living space is crowded, with several families often living together in one classroom. Their main concern is the safety and well-being of the children.
Many of the displaced families are headed by women, some of whom are weighed down by old age, chronic illnesses, children to care for, and empty stomachs to feed. Many are sitting on the ground in the schoolyard. They look tired. They have been all been faced with unique circumstances during their displacement, but they all have one thing in common: uncertainty of the future.
There are children playing in the schoolyard, oblivious to the fact that they are far from home. They run around giggling and playing as children usually do. They look joyful, but beneath the surface lingers untold trauma. Memories still seared in their minds, and the perplexing reality they are now forced to live. No child is supposed to face violence of such magnitude at such a tender age, yet displaced children in Yemen experience this daily.
Sama finally got a classroom to rest and take her medication. She has a brain tumor and needs proper medical care she can’t afford. Her medication is provided by charitable donors
Sama has been in Abu Bakr school since last June. She had to sleep on the floor before being assigned a classroom. She lays on a thin mattress with a welcoming smile on her face. Her sister and mother are the only family she has got and they have no support. “We ran away with nothing but our purses and the clothes on our backs” Sama’a sister says. Sama needs all the quiet she can get because she suffers from a brain tumour. “She keeps losing consciousness, if not for the help of charitable donors, she wouldn’t be able to get her daily dose of medicine” adds Sama’s mother.
Nada is a mother of four and was displaced from Al Mina district in Al-Hudayah. She took an overcrowded bus to Sana’a. Upon her arrival, she had nowhere to go. Prior to the conflict, Nada had nothing and was hardly able to provide the day to day necessities for her family. “We heard the sounds of aircrafts and missiles hitting the city, and the battle tanks were already in the neighborhoods. I was terrified for my family and I had to leave,” says Nada while describing the situation after the armed conflict had gripped the city.
Nada’s daughter is sick and lays on this mattress which she shares with her 3 brothers and sisters and mother. They have to sleep in the school corridor until they get a classroom
“Hospitals and pharmacies were closed; people didn’t know where to go. It was a ghost town. All you could hear was the shelling,” She added. Nada does not have a room, so she sits on one of the school corridors where her 2-year-old lies sick on a mattress they all share. “I don’t know what she is sick with, and I can’t afford medical care.”
“We have nothing; we are not part of this. Yet we bear the burdens of this war”
Ahmed fled his home when shelling started in his neighbourhood in Al-Hali district. His fear for the safety of his family of eight forced him to leave everything behind and flee to Sana’a. Khaled arrived in Sana’a with no place to stay. Him and his family were led to AbuBakr school for shelter.
Ahmed fled his home during the shelling in Al Hudaydah in fear for his family’s safety. Arriving in Sana’a, he had no one and didn’t know where to go
Murad came with his family and two extended families. “I don’t know how many we are. There are a lot of us.”
In her heavy winter clothes, the youngest in the family – a two month old- is coughing and has a cold. As the weather in the northern city of Sana’a is something they are not used to, the entire family was wearing winter clothes. There is a lot of readjusting for these families to do, and the uncertainty of their situation continues to increase their vulnerability.
Yemeni health system crumbles as millions risk malnutrition and diseases
Al-Olofi Hospital in Al-Hudaydah23 February 2017, Al-Hudaydah, Yemen - “Hospital staff have not received their salaries for the past 5 months. There are acute shortages of certain medicines and we need more fuel to ensure the hospital has electricity,” says Dr Khaled Suhail, Director of Al-Tharwa Hospital in Yemen’s third largest city, Al-Hudaydah.
With more than 1200 employees and 320 beds, Al-Thawra Hospital is the main functioning health facility in Al-Hudaydah and neighbouring governorates.
Every day, around 1500 people seek care at the hospital, a 5-fold increase since 2012 due to the influx of people displaced by ongoing conflict and the closure of other health facilities in the area.
Last week alone, several thousand displaced men, women and children arrived in Al-Hudaydah Governorate, overwhelming already weakened health facilities and overburdening vulnerable host communities.
The Al-Hudaydah port, one of the main entry points to the country, is functioning at minimal capacity, significantly increasing the prices of goods, including medicines, and reducing economic activity in the city. As a result, many patients are unable to pay the minimal fees for hospital services.
Despite this, no one is turned away from Al-Thawra Hospital and hospital staff provide care to everyone, regardless of whether they can afford to pay. Recently, however, the hospital had to stop providing food for inpatients due to lack of funds.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) assists us by providing fuel and medicines for emergency interventions, and supporting the hospital’s therapeutic feeding centre.” explains Dr Suhail. “However, with no funds for operational costs, we never know if we will still be open one month from now.”
Collapsing health system in Yemen
Since the escalation of the conflict in March 2015, health facilities across Yemen have reported more than 7600 deaths and close to 42 000 people injured. The country’s health system has been another victim of the conflict.
The budget allocated to health authorities has been drastically reduced, leaving health facilities without funds for operational costs and health care workers without regular salaries since September 2016.
“With more than 14.8 million people lacking access to basic health care, the current lack of funds means the situation will get much worse,” says Dr Nevio Zagaria, WHO Acting Representative in Yemen.
Only 45% of health facilities in Yemen are fully functional and accessible, 38% are partially functional and 17% are non-functional. At least 274 of those facilities have been damaged or destroyed during the current conflict. Highly specialized medical staff, such as intensive care unit doctors, psychiatrists and foreign nurses have left the country.
Nutrition crisis
3-month-old Zahraa at therapeutic feeding centre in Al-Thawra Hospital in Al-HudaydahAlmost 4.5 million people in Yemen, including 2 million children, require services to treat or prevent malnutrition, representing a 150% increase since late 2014. Of special concern are almost 462 000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition and at risk of life-threatening complications such as respiratory infections or organ failure.
“Last year more than 100 children died from severe malnutrition in our therapeutic feeding centre” says Dr Suhail. “The majority of children who come here are from Al-Hudaydah city itself. Those from outside the city can’t afford the cost of transport, so many children simply die at home.”
WHO has established 15 therapeutic feeding centres in 7 governorates, and plans to open an additional 25 centres as the numbers of malnourished children increases across the country.
Urgent funding needs
“We are asked to fill gaps created by the collapsing health institutions,” says Dr Zagaria, “but last year, WHO received less than half of the US$ 124 million required.”
This year United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations working to support health care in Yemen are appealing for US$ 322 million, of which WHO is requesting US$ 126 million.
“We urgently need resources to help support the health system as a whole, and are calling on donors to scale-up their support before more innocent lives are lost unnecessarily,” says Dr Zagaria.
