Impacts of Starvation and War Conflicts in Yemen During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

After only a few months of the first outbreak in Wuhan where scientists identified (SARS-CoV-2) the novel respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2, the world health organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus (COVID-19) an international public health emergency case and a worldwide pandemic on March 11, 2020. This pandemic eventually reached Yemen, with the first laboratory-confirmed case announced on 10 April 2020, in Hadhramaut, the southern province of Yemen in a 60-years old patient.1 The World Health Organization (WHO) recorded 6981 active cases, and 1368 deaths by 19 July 2021. Before the international crises resulting from COVID-19, Yemen was subjected to a number of various internal and external issues. A decade of economic and political crisis and over five years of war has extremely devastated the country. Furthermore, a hotspot Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis issued in July 2019 showed 1.2 million people in the 29 analyzed districts were in severe acute food shortages.2 According to the United Nations (UN) an estimated number of about 24 million people, almost 80% of the population needs all kinds of aid in Yemen. Humanitarian aid from countries has become the basis of survival for hundreds of thousands of Yemenis after the threat of famine. COVID-19 has contributed to an increased risk of the existing famine threat and with the ongoing war; little can be done to prevent contraction of the virus. Although the official COVID-19 cases in Yemen are, considered low compared to other Middle East countries, this is due to many non-operational airports and transportations networks in Yemen because of the civil war.3