Yemen: the challenge of delivering aid in an active conflict zone

Abstract

Introduction: In March 2015 a Saudi-led coalition began an air campaign and ground offensive in Yemen. The conflict has resulted in at least 100,000 people killed and 3.2 million people internally displaced. Over the last 29 months of the war, the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation (YRRF), working through an informal network of indigenous volunteers, has successfully provided food, clothing, medicine and water filters to areas under siege. Context: Asymmetric warfare complicates humanitarian assistance. YRRF succeeds through an informal network: hundreds of Yemeni volunteers negotiating passage through competing armed checkpoints focussed on concrete, lifesaving action. Method: A case-study report about a local, informal, Yemeni-led relief organisation supported by remote financing and training. Findings: YRRF has succeeded in delivering food and clothing to more than 20,000 families, distributing more than 1200 water filters to remote villages and internally displaced families and medicine to five cancer centres. Innovative contribution: Yemen has multiple combatants within its territory, with competing systems for aid distribution and healthcare delivery. YRRF has developed an efficient and costeffective technique for managing those complex environments while delivering care to fragile, and often displaced, populations in a war zone. Dynamic networks: local volunteers, working with local leaders, understanding culutral aspects, in country office, staying aploitical and meeting the needs of the population are key.

Public health impacts of an imminent Red Sea oil spill

“…The spill threatens to disrupt nearly all of Yemen's Red Sea fisheries, which would worsen food security and exacerbate Yemen's displacement crisis as workers seek new employment [7][8][9]19 . Imports of medical supplies from aid groups would probably also be disrupted, further destabilizing health services 22,24 . Our modelling indicated that clean-up would be slow even under optimistic conditions; actual clean-up efforts would potentially be further prolonged and logistically difficult given the conflict in the region and sea mines in the water.…”

“…The data we use to model the spill and downstream effects are of variable quality, so our results may be affected by measurement error. Stored quantities of supplies could mitigate shortages in the event of port disruption, but such quantities are probably minimal as Yemen is already undergoing supply shortages, and price spikes would render supplies inaccessible for many 5,24 . Our model considers only the scenario of a full spill; we do not model, for example, the impacts of a minor leak in the hull.…”

Public health impacts of an imminent Red Sea oil spill

“…Stored quantities of supplies could mitigate shortages in the event of port disruption, but such quantities are likely minimal as Yemen is already undergoing supply shortages, and price spikes would render supplies inaccessible for many. 5,24 Our model only considers the scenario of a full spill; we do not model, for example, the impacts of a minor leak in the hull. We do not provide expected durations for port and desalination plant closures since we are unable to predict the timing of cleanup efforts.…”

“…modeling24-hour spills and 72-hour spills during different seasons, we also modeled air pollution with and without combustion. For estimates of air pollution from combustion, we added the burned oil to particulate matter conversion rate from Middlebrook et al to the existing evaporative conversion rate.…”

The Roles of WHO in Handling Yemen Humanitarian Crisis during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The poor human security situation in Yemen has encouraged international participation and aid into the country. Unfortunately, it is challenging to facilitate such assistance due to the civil war in Yemen (Fink, 2017;Kimball & Jumaan, 2020). The domestic situation devastated by war and the lack of health facilities (Garber et al, 2020;Sowers & Weinthal, 2021) has exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic (International Rescue Committee, 2020).…”