World is sleeping ! Yemen crises is worsening

Yemen, 12 June. Despite multiple warnings from aid organisations that millions of people in Yemen are on the brink of famine, the world’s richest countries have dragged their feet on setting aside required funds for the war-torn country, relief workers say. “People in Yemen feel that they have been forgotten by the world while they are suffering,” said Rabih Torbay, the CEO of Project Hope, an international healthcare NGO. A six-year long civil conflict has displaced 4 million people, devastated the economy and destroyed half the hospitals in what was already the poorest Arab state. “We cannot do that. We cannot forget the people of Yemen and we can not forget the health workers. We need to keep this crisis on the radar screen until the solution is found,” Torbay told TRT World. The World Food Programme (WFP) has already warned that thousands of people in places such as Hajjah, Amran and Al Jawf risk starvation. This is not the first time that an alarm with a great sense of urgency has been raised for a country where already 90 percent of the 30 million population is dependent on some sort of international food assistance. Experts say the ongoing conflict makes it difficult for humanitarian agencies to conduct ground surveys that help establish the severity of the famine engulfing the most vulnerable regions. An air blockade imposed by a coalition led by neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which backs the Yemeni government in the north, makes it difficult for even aid supplies to be flown in easily. Torbay said that the Covid-19 pandemic has killed at least 150 doctors in Yemen but exact figures are hard to get by due to lack of data. “This is a country which has around 10 healthcare workers for 10,000 people. That’s not 10 doctors but 10 healthcare workers (including nurses). Imagine the impact of the doctors dying on patients who go untreated.” Famine or no famine, tens of thousands of people are already in need of medical and food assistance in Yemen where one woman and six newborns die every two hours due to pregnancy-related complications. “We are talking about 20 million people who don’t have access to basic health service – that’s two-thirds of the population,” said Torbay. “Just imagine that over 1 million pregnant women are malnourished, around 2.8 million children are malnourished including 400,000 who are severely malnourished.”