A collapsed health system
Since the war escalated in 2015 medical staff and health facilities have been attacked, leaving hospitals damaged, destroyed, or severely under-resourced and cutting off thousands of people from essential health services. MSF hospitals alone have been hit five times by airstrikes led by the Saudi- and Emirati-led Coalition (SELC).
As a result, Yemenis are forced to travel long distances—sometimes across front lines—to reach the country’s few remaining health facilities, often with deadly consequences: pregnant women with complications arrive late, and people suffering war-related injuries lose precious minutes before being stabilized. The collapse of Yemen’s health system has also led to outbreaks of preventable diseases like diphtheria, measles, and cholera.
A spike in measles cases was reported from late December 2018 to February 2019. Though the number of new cases has slightly decreased following vaccination campaigns launched by the Ministry of Health and other groups, the situation remains worrisome. In 2018, MSF teams in Abs, Haydan, Ibb, Khamer, and Taiz treated 1,787 for the highly contagious disease.