Local Editor
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) issued a statement Tuesday urging donors at the UN’s aid conference in Geneva to increase funding immediately and prioritize lifesaving interventions.
The statement read: “With medical teams working across Yemen, we at Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) witness on a daily basis the reality of the humanitarian crisis facing its people”
The MSF stated that it’s “teams have treated more than 60,800 trauma patients, including war wounded and other violence-related injuries.”
The organization adds that “millions of people across Yemen are in critical need of aid in order to survive in a country where the economy has largely collapsed, basic services struggle to function, and social safety nets are strained.”
The MSF urged the donors to “increase funding immediately and prioritize lifesaving interventions”, adding that “humanitarian aid needs to be scaled up—urgently.”
It also called on the United Nations “to effectively put in place the Level 3 declaration arrangements, with senior and experienced guidance in emergencies and highly insecure settings, strong coordination, and practical support to its agencies and NGOs already working in the country.”
Doctors Without Borders stated that to avoid a total collapse, the health care system in Yemen “desperately needs to be shored up”, adding that “increasing funding for humanitarian aid cannot on its own alleviate the toll taken on the civilian population by the armed conflict. As donor countries gather today to pledge their financial support, they must also commit to stepping up diplomatic efforts to minimize the war’s deadly and destructive impact on the men, women, and children caught up in it.”
The MSF also urged “all warring parties and their allies to ensure that civilians and civilian infrastructure—including medical facilities and staff—benefit from the protection granted to them under international humanitarian law… Today, we re-emphasize our call on all parties to ensure that civilians and health workers are protected, and that the wounded and sick are able to access medical care.”
Hospitals have repeatedly been hit by Saudi-led coalition shelling, missiles, airstrikes, and gunfire. Four MSF health facilities were attacked. 26 of patients and staff lost their lives.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
