Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, now in its eighth year, has crippled the country’s health facilities and laboratories, while curtailing the quality and availability of many essential health services.
Diana Nasser Mohammed, a medical laboratory assistant, has worked at the National Center for Central Public Health Laboratories in Aden since 2011. “We have been providing services intermittently since I began working here,” she said. “There are times when we do cannot carry out examinations, or provide services. But now, thanks to the support we have received, our services are almost continuous without interruptions.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has renewed its partnership with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) to provision Yemen’s health system with medicines, supplies, and equipment needed for general care, child health, reproductive and maternal health, dialysis, and treatment of non-communicable diseases.
Waheed Abdullah Al-Bakhshi is the Director-General of the National Center for Central Public Health Laboratories in Aden. He expressed his satisfaction with support provided to the center by WHO in partnership with KSrelief and the Ministry of Public Health and Population (MoPHP).
“Thanks to the WHO and Ministry of Health here, about 70 to 80 percent of needed laboratory solutions are available now,” said Dr. Abdullah Al-Bakhshi. This support has played a key role in containing epidemic outbreaks and providing free routine tests to patients with kidney implants. Those same tests would otherwise cost the patients around 30,000 Yemeni rials in private labs.”
"Healthcare workers in the country are immensely grateful for the ongoing support of the WHO and NGOs worldwide. Efforts like these will significantly improve the life-saving responses of hospitals, care centers, and laboratories in Yemen,” Dr. Al-Bakhshi said, while adding that he hopes his laboratory among others throughout Yemen can continue to receive such support in future.
“Our center, like all others, operates within a partially-collapsed health sector – so continuing support is needed in terms of rehabilitation, equipment, solutions, staff training, and maintenance.”
Ms. Nasser Mohammed pointed out another major challenge for the laboratory – namely, a general lack of public awareness about communicable diseases that can accelerate their emergence and spread across Yemen.
“We are experiencing epidemics due to conflict and the lack of health awareness. So it can be expected that diseases including COVID-19 will spread more quickly here,” she said.
For the past decade, Dr. Mokhtar Ismail has headed Up the Yemeni Society for Thalassemia and Genetic Blood Disorders in Sana’a. He said that the center receives 100 to 120 cases every day, on average, from multiple governorates and especially the neighboring governorate of Amant Al Asimah.
“Previously, we were only able to provide a limited number of medical laboratory tests – but with the support we have received we can increase the number of tests provided, lower the death rate among thalassemia patients, and treat a higher number of them,” Dr. Ismail explained. “The supplies we have received vary from essential medicines to treat thalassemia, to laboratory solutions and other medical supplies that support the sustainability of health care services for the patients.”
Within this difficult operating context, WHO continues working in partnership with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) to provide lifesaving medicines and essential equipment that can directly benefit up to nearly three million Yemenis. Most recently, KSrelief has funded essential medical equipment and laboratory reagents for six governmental medical laboratories to ensure the quality and sustainability of their services to targeted health facilities – including the Al Thawra Hospital in Al Hudydah; oncology centers in Aden and Sana’a; the Supreme Board of Drug Quality Laboratory, the National Blood Transfusion Center; and the Thalassemia and Genetic Disorders Laboratory.
“Continuation of this support is critical to reduce patients’ complications and death rate,” Dr. Ismail concluded. “Because of this support, the families of our patients here can be well assured that their children are receiving the best care possible.”
Story and Photos: WHO-Yemen