Yemen: Women and girls struggle to access essential healthcare

Sana’a (ICRC) – Eight years into the armed conflict in Yemen, violence, economic hardship and deteriorating health services and health infrastructure increasingly keep women and girls from being able to access the essential healthcare they need. As funding shortages force humanitarian organizations to scale down aid, their predicament will only increase.

In Yemen today, less than 50% of births are attended by skilled health professionals, according to UNICEF. One mother and six newborns die reportedly every two hours in Yemen because of complications during pregnancy and for causes that are almost entirely preventable, mainly due to limited or no access to health services.

“It’s a miracle that I’m still alive after my last childbirth”, said Najla, who is from Taiz, Yemen’s longest-running battlefield, where violence has exhausted the population. “I had complications during labor, was at home and all nearby health facilities were shut down because of the violent clashes. Luckily a nurse lived nearby, she helped me deliver my baby and saved both our lives.”

Among the estimated 4.2 million people displaced in Yemen since the beginning of the conflict, 73% are women and children. Displaced women and girls suffer from additional economic and social vulnerability resulting in limited access to basic services, including to adequate healthcare to treat chronic disease.

“The pain is unbearable!” said Moghniya, a single mother suffering from terminal stage cancer who lives in the internally displaced camp of Swaida in Marib, in central Yemen. “I was assigned to a cancer center in Mukalla, hundreds of kilometers away. I couldn’t afford transportation between treatment sessions and bear the long travel required. Now, I’m just sitting in my tent, waiting for death to release me from my agony.”

More than 20.1 million people out of a total population of 30.5 million currently lack access to basic health care. Only 51% of health facilities still function across the country. Violence further complicates the ability of patients to reach lifesaving healthcare.

 “Women who lost husbands over years of conflict became hesitant to travel to seek health support, especially if they live in rural areas, as they fear getting attacked or harassed on their way,” said Nabiha Ahmad, supervisor of the main public dialysis center in Aden, which is supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross. “During the past years, many of our female patients suffering from kidney failure, particularly those living in remote areas, died in their homes because they couldn’t reach the center in time for their live saving periodic treatment.’’ 

Saida, a 45-year-old teacher from Aden who suffers from kidney failure, echoes this sentiment. She needs a minimum of two weekly sessions of dialysis.  “On many occasions during the peak of violence, I had the choice of either staying home and die from illness or risk getting caught in crossfire while trying to reach the nearest dialysis center,’’ she said. ‘’Even during calm periods, it remains complicated, particularly for us women.”

For more information, please contact:

Basheer Omar (Sanaa) balselwi@icrc.org+967 737889476  and/or +967 771 480 412

Imene Trabelsi (Beirut) itrabelsi@icrc.org +961 3 138 353

Jason Straziuso (Geneva) jstraziuso@icrc.org +41227302077

Notes for editors:

Women and Girls access to health care in Yemen:

• 4.71 million children and women are acutely malnourished, including 1.14 million pregnant or lactating women who require treatment for acute malnutrition.
• Six million women are without access to the medical and mental health support they desperately need with protection services all but eroded. (UNFPA)
• 5.0 million Women of reproductive age in need of support . (UNFPA)
• 6.1 million Women in need of Gender Based Violence services. (UNFPA)
• One mother and six newborns are dying every two hours because of complications during pregnancy or birth.
• Five million women and adolescent girls lack access to essential, lifesaving sexual and reproductive health care.
• More than a million pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished.
• One in three displaced households are headed by females, increasing their vulnerability to violence.
• The current water network reaches less than 30% of the Yemeni population. Thus, millions of Yemenis, including women and children need to walk for miles to fetch water.

ICRC supporting health care in Yemen:

• In 2021, more than two million Yemenis, including women, benefited from ICRC activities in the field of health.
• The ICRC continues to provide medical material, equipment, and medicines to 48 hospitals, 3 dialysis centres and 36 primary healthcare clinics across the country.
• More than 1.1 million people received health care services in 46 health facilities, where YRCS supported with medicines, medical equipment and devices, incentives for staff health workers and staff members, and capacity building training for medical staff as well as fuel, water, and maintenance.
• Over 47,000 consultations were provided in 9 health facilities with support of incentives for health workers and staff.
  The ICRC continues to support 6 health facilities of which two hospitals with medical materials to be able to treat war wounded people.
• The ICRC in Yemen has been supporting 5 Physical Rehabilitation Centers (PRCs) in Sana’a, Taiz, Sa’ada, Aden and Hadhramaut governorates with equipment, incentives for the staff, technical support and raw materials, components and machinery for manufacturing prostheses and orthoses. About 90,000 services including 47,000 assistive devices are provided in a year by these 5 PRCs supported by the ICRC 
• The ICRC supports the treatment of tens of thousands of war-wounded patients every year and provides services to more than 54,000 people with disabilities, including women.
• The ICRC supports diploma programs for prosthetics and orthotics in partnership with the Higher Institute for Health Sciences for 10 students (3 years) and provides scholarships to 25 students to do bachelor’s degrees in the field of orthotics and prosthetic at Sana’a University.

Log-list

Title                                     : Yemen

Location                             : Aden/Marib/Taiz/Abyan/Hodeida

Length                               :  07.04m

Producer                           : Wagdi Almaqtari/ICRC

Production languages   : Arabic/ English

Filming dates                   : June 2022

Copyright                          : ICRC access all