Government of Japan support to WHO response in Yemen
24 April 2019 – Contributions from the Government of Japan have been crucial to WHO’s health response in Yemen. Between 2016 and 2019, the Government of Japan generously supported WHO’s humanitarian response with over US$ 11 million, allowing WHO to reach over 824 000 people with essential healthcare services and ensure the continuation of life-saving programmes.
In 2019, donations from Japan will continue to allow WHO to scale up its capacity-building actives for national health care personnel. These activities will target thousands of health professionals across the country, building on their capacity to deliver pre-hospital care.
“Health care workers are one of the most critical components to successful health care delivery. The conflict resulted in a massive exodus, with tens of thousands of health care personnel fleeing for their safety. Those left behind require training to ensure that they are able to handle overwhelming numbers of patients and in order to deliver quality care to the people,” said Altaf Musani, WHO Representative in Yemen.
This hospital network of trained healthcare workers is responsible for emergency medical care within Aden governorate, in addition to tertiary level care focused on patients who have sustained traumatic injuries from the conflict. In addition, hygiene and sanitation supplies will be procured and delivered to hospitals in support of infection, prevention and control protocols. Trained staff will deliver pre-hospital care services, medical supplies and medicines for trauma care to these hospitals, benefitting up to 1.8 million people living in the communities closest to these national public hospitals.
WHO’s partnership with the Government of Japan will also enable WHO to improve the quality of trauma care response, ensuring access to essential health care services at primary health care and referral levels for affected communities, especially those closest to the frontlines.
WHO renews its gratitude to the People of Japan for their continued efforts in alleviating the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people across Yemen.
Note to editors
More than 4 years of sustained conflict has left almost 20 million people in need of adequate access to healthcare and over 24 million people in need of some form of humanitarian or protection assistance — a stark 10% increase since 2018.
In February of this year, donors pledged $2.6 billion for humanitarian action in Yemen, and while these pledges are encouraging, nearly four months into the year the Humanitarian Response Plan for 2019 remains only 10% funded—80% less than what was received at this time last year.
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Government of Japan provides new funding for essential health care services in Yemen
March 2018
Two years since world's largest outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea and cholera, Yemen witnessing another sharp increase in reported cases with number of deaths continuing to increase
From Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa and Dr Ahmed Al Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean
Muscat/Amman/Cairo, 26 March 2019 – “In Yemen, since the beginning of the year until 17 March, nearly 109 000 cases of severe acute watery diarrhoea and suspected cholera were reported with 190 total associated deaths since January. Nearly one third of the reported cases are children under the age of 5. This comes 2 years since Yemen witnessed the world's largest outbreak when more than 1 million cases were reported.
“We fear that the number of suspected cholera cases will continue to increase with the early arrival of the rainy season and as basic services, including lifesaving water systems and networks, have collapsed. The situation is exacerbated by the poor status of sewage disposal systems, the use of contaminated water for agriculture, unreliable electricity to store food and the displacement of families as they flee escalating violence, especially in Hudaydah and Tai’z.
“Our teams in Yemen are working day and night with a wide network of local partners to respond and stop the further spread and transmission of disease. Focusing on 147 priority districts, additional health, water, hygiene and sanitation supplies are being mobilized. Rapid response teams have been deployed. A total of 413 diarrhoea treatment centres and oral rehydration centres are operational in all 147 priority districts. Partners are repairing water and sanitation systems. In the past weeks, we scaled up chlorination activities to disinfect water in 95 priority districts and provided fuel and spare parts to keep going water supply and sanitation networks. A round of oral cholera vaccine campaign reached over 400 000 people in several districts. Meanwhile, community-based awareness-raising efforts reached 600 000 people in house-to-house campaigns since early 2019 to provide families with information on hygiene practices and improve the reporting of symptoms and seeking of treatment.
“UNICEF and WHO are committed to continue scaling up the response to assist immediately the people affected and to prevent the disease from spreading further. We are doing everything possible to avoid the 2017 scenario, including the timely use of proven effective measures, including oral cholera vaccination. However, we face several challenges, including the intensification of fighting, access restrictions and bureaucratic hurdles to bring lifesaving supplies and personnel to Yemen.
“UNICEF and WHO are calling for a lifting of all restrictions on our humanitarian operations to respond to the spread of the disease and other areas. Our humanitarian teams must have full access to reach every child, every woman, every man in need of medical and other humanitarian assistance.
“Above all, we jointly reiterate the calls for the fighting to end. It is time for the 4-year long war to come to an end. If not, Yemen will continue to be trapped in a web of disease, malice and sink deeper in endless humanitarian disasters, with the most vulnerable paying the highest price.
For further information, please contact:
Inas Hamam
Mobile: +2 01000 157 385
E-mail:
Tarik Jašarević
Mobile: +41 793 676 214
E-mail:
Statement on Yemen by Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean
23 March 2019 - I have just returned from Yemen, where I witnessed firsthand the suffering, illness and death of innocent civilians caught up in this crisis.
In my visits to hospitals in Aden and Sana’a, I saw newborn babies and children, sometimes 2-3 to a bed, suffering from severe acute malnutrition, heart and renal failure, pneumonia and other life-threatening conditions. Doctors told me that some would not survive the week.
I met weak and frail kidney failure patients who receive dialysis sessions only once week, instead of the standard three, due to shortages in supplies. I witnessed cholera patients desperately clinging to life, fighting to survive a disease that is usually treatable under normal circumstances. There are patients with treatable forms of cancer who are dying needlessly, because they cannot afford the care, or it is simply not available.
In the Intensive Care Unit of Al-Thawra Hospital, a patient died before my eyes as doctors stood by helplessly, unable to save him. With more than half of all hospitals across the country not functional, and others barely operational due to shortages in medicines and supplies, many patients who can barely afford the cost of transport either die at home or reach health facilities too late.
I met many brave and heroic health staff, truly the backbone of the health system, who had not been paid in years yet were determined to keep working every day under incredibly difficult circumstances.
Amidst this massive suffering and despair, I saw signs of hope. I met Khadeeja, a little girl who was once severely malnourished and on the verge of death. Her parents travelled for hours to find a hospital that could treat her. She was admitted to a WHO-supported Therapeutic Feeding Centre, and weeks later, her condition improved. Many more months later, she is a happy, healthy, well-nourished girl.
We saved people like Ali, whose world fell apart last year when he learned that his eight children and wife tested positive for cholera. They received medical care in the diarrhoea treatment centre at Al-Sabeen Hospital jointly supported by WHO and UNICEF. They all survived, and Ali said that a new life was granted for him and his family.
Despite the unfolding tragedy in Yemen, stories like Ali’s and Khadeeja’s show that our work makes a difference. Last year, with 81% of required funding received as part of the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan, WHO was able to successfully reach 13 million people, exceeding the target population of 10 million.
I call upon the international community to continue supporting our immediate lifesaving work in Yemen, while we also lay the foundation for investments in the health workforce and health system.
This year, WHO and health partners require US$ 627 million as part of the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan for Yemen. This support will allow us to further improve access to primary, secondary and tertiary health care; ensure that hospitals in priority districts are able to respond to epidemics and outbreaks; and help restore the functionality of closed or damaged health facilities in high priority districts.
This year, humanitarian partners have recognized that meeting health needs is one of the top two priorities in Yemen, highlighting the urgency with which we need to act. The brave humanitarian aid staff working for our health partners in Yemen who have dedicated their lives to helping others must be allowed to continue uninterrupted.
As we continue to scale up our response to address the world’s worst humanitarian crisis I also call on all parties to the conflict to protect health staff and health facilities, and ensure safe and sustained access for humanitarian aid to enter the country. It is my sincere hope that the parties involved will come to a sustained peace settlement, which is the only sustainable answer to the humanitarian needs in Yemen.
The Minimum Service Package – a lifeline for the vulnerable in remote areas
19 February 2019 – With a health system on the brink of collapse, and ongoing conflict causing one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, the health needs in Yemen are massive.
The Minimum Service Package (MSP) is a health delivery mechanism aimed at strengthening the access and availability of health care services therefore strengthening the health system in Yemen. Through the framework of the MSP, WHO in cooperation with health authorities and partners, is able to support the provision of primary health care services at the district level in 135 districts. Providing this access means that access to health care should not be an impediment, especially for vulnerable people in remote areas, where health facilities are either closed or lacking the needed supplies due to the ongoing war. Many people have to travel for hours to reach the closest facility putting them at risk of death.
Dr Hamid Al Hammadi, Director of Al Fawaris hospital, says that the support from WHO has enabled the health centre to provide primary health care for at least 10 000 people residing in the area who do not have access to health care nearby. “This project is critical and timely. Before the support the centre was functional for 5 hours a day only. Now we are able to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” he adds. The centre is now capable of providing maternal care, emergency care, laboratory tests and medical supplies.
Health workers are not forgotten
Since the beginning of the conflict 4 years ago, health workers in Yemen have struggled greatly to provide essential health care. Across the country, they work tirelessly without being paid and in turn cannot provide for and support their families. Providing incentives within the MSP ensures health workers are not forgotten.
Safia Ahmed works at Al Fawaris health centre supported by the MSP. She has been working as a nurse for 20 years now, and the ongoing war in Yemen has caused her to lose her income, like thousands of civil servants and pensioners who have not been paid salaries and bursaries for years due to the humanitarian situation.
“I now work here and thanks to the incentives paid by WHO, I am able to provide for my family. This support means a lot to us as health workers because it gives us a sense of purpose,” says Safia. Before this support, Safia would work 2 shifts for months on end without getting paid.
WHO expresses thanks to all donors and partners supporting the MSP in Yemen, including Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development, United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund and the Government of Kuwait. In 2019, WHO aims to make health services more accessible and available to 15 million people across Yemen.
Related links
Italian Agency for Development Cooperation