It’s hard enough living through a pandemic in the UK. Now imagine it in a country where sanitation and clean water are scarce and only a fraction of the hospitals are still standing after six years of war. That’s what is happening in Yemen right now, in a situation a UN official has described as ‘the darkest I have ever seen.’
Yemen was already facing what the UN described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis before the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in April, with half the population at risk of famine. Since then, there has been deep concern at rapidly rising number of coronavirus infections amid ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis.
According to modelling by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the country may have surpassed 1m Covid-19 cases and cases continue to rise rapidly. To make matters worse, the pandemic has caused the near total collapse of country’s health system and the UN has warned that millions of Yemeni children are at risk of starvation because of shortfalls in humanitarian funding.
Unicef, the UN children’s agency, fears that about 6,600 children could die over the next six months from preventable diseases and malnutrition because of the dire state of healthcare, a lack of water and soap and the inability of aid workers to provide assistance because they do not have sufficient funding.
Dr Suad Al-Fahd, a 32-year old Yemeni woman who works in Epidemiological Surveillance in Yemen’s capital Sana’a says: ‘I am worried for so many reasons. When it comes to treating people, Yemen is unprepared. We had 200 ventilators for a population of around 30 million at the start of this crisis and some of them didn’t even work. We purchased more but we still don’t have enough, nor the trained medical staff to use them. It is also impossible to find suitable surgical masks and gloves to wear in hospital, and there are no hygienic kits available even for people quarantined in hospital.
I am worried for so many reasons. When it comes to treating people, Yemen is unprepared.
Suad is working with Human Appeal who have an emergency appeal to raise vital funds for the country. She says it’s not just the virus that poses a threat, she’s also worried about the impact that fighting the virus could have on Yemeni people.
‘Malnourished people will be at even more risk from this virus, but as more stay at home to prevent spreading and catching the virus then more people will lose their sources of income and become malnourished themselves. It is a vicious circle. I suspect we will also see a huge increase in the need for psychiatric services as people’s mental health deteriorates.’
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders, the international medical organisation, recently started supporting a new Covid-19 treatment centre in Sheikh Zayed hospital in the Yemeni capital Sana’a, but they say widespread fear of the coronavirus is preventing people from seeking medical care. Only half of the 20 beds for patients with moderate coronavirus symptoms in Sheikh Zayed hospital are currently occupied. According to MSF staff, many people regard hospitals as a source of infection. Others are fearful of being stigmatised by their communities if they test positive for the disease. As a result, many Yemenis are not seeking medical care until their condition is serious.
‘We are seeing first-hand the detrimental impact of misinformation that is being circulated all over the country, augmenting fear of the virus in society,’ says MSF’s Dr. Abdulrahman, who works in Sheikh Zayed hospital. ‘Hospitals are safe places for patients and the earlier that patients come to hospital, the better the chances we have to treat their symptoms.’
Many patients arriving at Sheikh Zayed hospital’s emergency room are in a critical condition and need immediate breathing support. All six beds are occupied in the intensive care unit, where patients in severe respiratory distress receive around-the-clock care, dependent on black and red oxygen cylinders that need to be changed every three hours.
‘We are concerned over what we see in the hospital, but an even greater concern is the patients we don’t see – those who choose not to seek medical treatment until their condition deteriorates considerably,’ says Caroline Ducarme, MSF’s Head of Mission in Yemen.
The hospital was designated as a Covid-19 treatment centre and shifted from providing maternity services and trauma care to tackling a pandemic that has challenged some of the world’s most developed health systems.
Yemen has very limited testing capabilities for Covid-19 and so the virus is spreading across the country untraced. After years of war, the health system was already under considerable stress before the pandemic. Now it appears that people have lost trust in the health system and health staff.
Many charities say more resources are desperately needed in Yemen.
‘A massive scale-up of the Covid-19 response is required and additional treatment facilities must be set up to urgently address the silent needs,’ says Caroline. ‘Instead of cutting down support at such a critical time, the international community should be mobilising maximum resources to maintain humanitarian interventions in Yemen, while local authorities must exert all efforts to facilitate the implementation of lifesaving programmes and ensure that people can safely access humanitarian aid.’
To donate to Human Appeal's emergency appeal visit: humanappeal.org.uk/appeals/yemen-emergency-appeal.
To donate MSF, visit: msf.me/coronavirus