Yemen Emergency Appeal

In the beginning of 2019, the UN announced that the humanitarian crisis in Yemen was the worst in the world. In 2020, most of the donors to the UN ceased supporting any programs in Yemen due to the global lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

During this period, the healthcare system in Yemen completely collapsed as three deadly diseases swept through the country (COVID-19, Dengue fever, and Chikungunya fever) and claimed the lives of thousands of Yemenis. The quarantine imposed on some provinces caused most people to lose their jobs, especially daily wage workers. Consequently, many households starved to death. The lack of accurate information about the number of infected people, as well as the collapse of the healthcare system, gripped the population with fear as they chose home quarantine, putting themselves in danger of hunger and thirst. In provinces such as Taiz, there was no drinking water system; therefore, people were forced to search for clean water, which was very scarce and sold at high prices.

The fear of catching coronavirus in hospitals, and the lack of resources for providing medicine (whether by the hospitals due to declined services), deterred many women, especially pregnant ones, from going to hospitals for healthcare services or giving birth. As a result, this problem manifested itself in the death of many pregnant women or the death of their babies due to at-home births. The elderly, who were more vulnerable, were also discouraged from using health services for the same reasons.

During this period the health care system in Yemen has fully collapsed as 3 deadly diseases took over Yemen (COVID – 19, Dengue fever & Chikungunya fever) and claimed the lives of thousands of Yemenis. The quarantine imposed on some provinces caused most people to lose their jobs, especially daily wages workers. Subsequently many households have starved to death. The lack of accurate information about the number of infected people as well as the collapse of healthcare system have gripped the population in fear as they choose home quarantine putting themselves under the danger of hunger and thirst. In provinces such as Taiz there is no drinking water system, therefore people are forced to search for clean water which are very scarce and sold in high price.

The fear of catching coronavirus in hospitals, and the lack of resources for providing medicine (whether by the hospitals due to declined services) have deterred many women, especially pregnant ones from going to hospitals for healthcare services or giving birth. As a result, this problem manifested itself in the death of many pregnant women or death of the baby due to at- home birth. The elderly who are more vulnerable are discouraged from using health services as well for the same reasons.