Attachments
Introduction - General Humanitarian Situation
The humanitarian situation in Yemen is labelled the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. After five years of ongoing conflict and no solution is foreseen in the horizon, around 80% of the Yemeni population are in need of humanitarian assistance. The number of people in need PIN in 2020 is estimated to remain at 24 million out of which 17.9 million are in need of health assistance and 14 million are in critical need of such assistance.
In 2020, COVID19 devastating impact has burdened the already fragile health system. This impact was yet adding another layer of hardship on top of ongoing active conflict, fuel shortage, and currency depreciation. In addition to the heavy rains and flooding that took place from April to August 2020, these factors all together exacerbated the situation furthermore and drove the country to the brink of famine. According to the IPC analysis released at the end of 2020, the level of food insecurity remains high as 45 percent of the population (13.5 million people) are estimated to be facing acute food insecurity, including 16,500 people living in famine-like conditions (IPC Phase 5-Catastrophic).
The Health Cluster assessments indicated that a large portion of the country still face levels of acute need as a result of the economic collapse, poor access to basic health services, lack of resources and the dynamic displacement movement. This need slightly decreased in 2020 in response to the efforts made by Health Cluster partners to ensure people have access to basic health services. The fragility of the health system in Yemen is multifactorial. The poor economy, food insecurity, water scarcity on top of the underdeveloped health infrastructure, driving the system further towards collapse.
COVID-19 has placed additional pressure on existing facilities and resulted in under-utilization of health services, complicating the delivery of services.
According to the 2020 Health Resources and Services Availability Monitoring System (HeRAMS), only 51% of health facilities in Yemen are fully functional, 35% are functioning partially and the remaining 14% are nonfunctional.
Functional health facilities often cannot offer adequate care. Fewer than 40% of secondary health facilities provide non communicable disease and mental health services. Only 20% provide integrated maternal and child healthcare.
The active frontlines and persisting armed violence had both direct and indirect impact on the functionality of health facilities and the utilization of health services. The direct impact lies in the destruction of health facilities or the proximity of those facilities to the frontlines. While the indirect impact is noted in the attrition of medical personnel.
COVID-19 has aggravated the situation. Roughly 15% of the functioning health system has been re-purposed for COVID-19, which has contributed to reducing overall health coverage by 20 to 30%. Fewer patients are seeking healthcare partly due to fear of COVID19, related stigma and constrained access.
As of December 2020, total of 1,929 Health Facilities (16 Governorate Hospitals, 121 District Hospitals, 50 General Hospitals, 20 Specialized Hospitals, 580 Health Centers and 1,142 Health Units) are being supported by active Health Cluster Partners.