UN: Health Situation Critical in Yemen’s Aden
Local Editor
The World Health Organization [WHO] has warned on Tuesday about the humanitarian situation in Yemen, saying the health situation is "critical" in the country’s southwestern province of Aden.
"The humanitarian and health situation in Yemen continues to deteriorate," Ahmed Shadoul, the representative of WHO in Yemen, said on Tuesday.
"The health situation is especially critical in Aden, with many people no longer having direct access to food, fuel, medical care and safe drinking-water," Shadoul further said.
The WHO said that it had delivered urgently-needed health supplies to Aden governorate in Yemen, where the humanitarian and health situation has critically deteriorated as a result of insecurity and restricted access.
Saudi Arabia has imposed a near total blockade on a country heavily reliant on imports.
Since March, a Saudi-led coalition backed by the United States has been carrying out airstrikes against Yemen. The airstrikes have not been authorized by the UN.
The WHO said that, "Access to health care in Aden is extremely limited due to constant fighting, and most of the governorate’s 31 health facilities are non-functional due to critical shortages in medical supplies and fuel needed for generator".
It said that it had brought 46.4 tonnes of assistance including trauma kits, medicines for treating malaria and diarrhoeal diseases, and water and sanitation supplies for more than 84,000 people in six trucks as part of a United Nations [UN] convoy.
It added that, "Following a surge in the number of suspected cases of malaria and dengue fever since the start of the crisis, most significantly in Aden, WHO also conducted rapid testing for dengue fever and malaria and provided support to Alwahda Hospital in Aden to resume functionality of its fever/dengue ward and trauma management centre".
The United Nations has declared Yemen a level-3 humanitarian emergency, the highest on its scale, with nearly half the country facing a food crisis.
More than 21.1 million people -- over 80 percent of Yemen’s population -- need aid, with 13 million facing food shortages, while access to water has become difficult for 9.4 million people.
The UN resident coordinator for Yemen, Johannes Van Der Klaauw, said that the UN convoy arrived in Aden at the weekend, but that rations supplied by the World Food Program [WFP] aboard several dozen trucks had been delayed.
"It took days and days to organize safe passage. It did arrive in Aden last Saturday. It was the first time we got a convoy into Aden for weeks," Van Der Klaauw told reporters in Switzerland’s Geneva.
"We had wanted to use ports, vessels which try to dock in Aden. But since the pause didn’t take place, we still have a big problem that aid is not reachable by sea," Van Der Klaauw said, adding that vessels are diverted to Hodeida port.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman said the UN chief is "very much disappointed" that a UN-brokered humanitarian pause in
fighting in Yemen did not take hold over the weekend.
Sources: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
