The continued violence in Yemen is causing major security and humanitarian consequences. An internally displaced persons (IDPs) crisis is emerging. Reports show IDPs, including women and children, are living in caves or out in the open. In addition, the shortage of fuel, destruction of pipelines, and lack of access to water has propelled a water shortage in an already water scarce nation. In Aden, water shortage is so severe in some cases that people are resorting to water collection from unprotected and abandoned wells, to pools of water in valleys. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged for an immediate political resolution and said there are countless civilians in Yemen who are being “willfully abandoned to misery”.
International Medical Corps is currently supporting 78 health facilities in Yemen, including 10 mobile medical units. Many of these facilities are reporting an increase in the number of injuries from air strikes, shelling, and ground fighting. We are distributing trauma kits, drugs, medical consumables, and food supplements to these facilities.
In addition, International Medical Corps is planning to send weekly water trucks to health facilities with the highest amount of new cases. Our teams on the ground are also arranging to distribute 3,000 hygiene kits to conflict-affected families and IDPs. Hygiene kits include essential water, hygiene and sanitation items such as buckets and soap. International Medical Corps-trained volunteers will teach basic hygiene principles and practices with the distribution.
Our mobile medical units in Lahj and Taiz provide 40-80 consultations per day, and conduct management of acute malnutrition and other services for conflict-related injuries.
So far, International Medical Corp’s initial distributions of medical consumables and drugs will support:
• 100 people with severe bleeding from trauma or in childbirth
• 250 people that require anesthetics
• 640 people with injuries that require dressings
• 400 people with fractured bones that require plasters
• 2000 people with wounds sutured or undergoing surgical procedures
• 400 people exposed to tetanus through injuries or burns