At hospitals and health facilities throughout Yemen, the world health organization (WHO) is partnering with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) to provide essential life-saving medicines, supplies and training for ensuring the survival of mothers and newborns.
Dr. Bariah Awadh is an OB/GYN specialist at the Ras al-Ara Health Centre in the Lajh District of South Yemen. She is the only doctor on staff (along with 12 nurses) at the health centre that has stayed operational, despite facing severe shortages of financial and human resources.
Yemen’s conflict-driven economic and humanitarian crisis has severely impacted the country’s health care system, disrupting basic health services at the Ras al-Ara Health Centre, and at nearly all other hospitals and health facilities throughout the country. Yet Dr. Awad stays hopeful and optimistic.
Together with KSrelief, WHO has supported the Ras al-Ara Health Centre with reproductive health kits containing essential medical supplies, medicines and reusable instruments for its maternal health services that are provided free of charge – from mothers’ early pregnancy to infant delivery.
Up to 80 persons arrive to the health centre every day from neighboring districts or more remote locations, including from neighboring governorates of Taiz and Hodeidah, where large numbers of internally displaced people (IDPs) are concentrated. Pregnant women are frequently admitted with anemia, malnutrition and hypertension. Some will not survive childbirth due to severe bleeding and lack of needed medical supplies at the health center that nevertheless remains operational around the clock with life-saving emergency care and nutrition services.
“I am touched by how grateful people are for the services we provide, at no cost to them,” said Dr. Awadh, who is completing 16 years at the health centre. “Many are displaced from their homes, extremely poor, and are so happy to receive our help. They also spread the word in their communities about our services, resulting in more pregnant women coming here, knowing that they and their children will be provided with quality care at no cost.”
Dr. Belqis Naguib Shaaban is an obstetrics and gynecology specialist at the Attan health center, where she attends to as many as 30 patients a day. Most are pregnant women experiencing serious health conditions including urinary tract infections, anemia, and miscarriages.
“These problems are more critical and widespread because of insufficient awareness among pregnant mothers about how to care for themselves and their babies from the beginning of their pregnancy,” explained Dr. Shaaban, “so we do our best to provide a continuum of services extending from early pregnancy to childbirth, starting with scheduled visits and exams to during all three trimesters of pregnancy.”
Dr. Shaaban noted that medicines, medical devices and other supplies received from WHO to date have sustained the lives of many mothers and infants through pregnancy to childbirth and thereafter, with all services provided at low to no cost. Many women arriving to the hospital are displaced by conflict, or otherwise living in extreme poverty, and with no means to pay for many if any medicines, tests, and treatments.
All classes of society can come for our services…and I do not remember a single case turned away without the care we can offer. Whether it’s a reduction in fees, or anything the patient needs, we can cover it…with the support we receive from the WHO.”
Nour Al-Misbahi is a registered midwife in the maternity and nursery department of the Faj Attan Health Center. “The World Health Organization and the [Yemen] Ministry of Health have provided us with trainings in pregnant women’s healthcare, maternity and childbirth emergencies, including newborn resuscitation,” said Ms. Al-Misbahi. “The trainings have enabled us to improve our childbirth services especially for low-income patients, and urgently treating cases of obstructed labor and postpartum bleeding. Now we are confident, not fearful, about providing these services successfully.
“We receive anywhere from 300 to 400 pregnancy cases every month…and we also know how to treat malnutrition, after receiving extensive training that we have appreciated greatly.”
Asma Abdullah Ali, 32, has arrived to the Ras al-Ara Health Centre for a medical check-up and antenatal care and counseling. Four months pregnant, she lives with her husband and two young children in a crowded makeshift hut. She said that she traveled nearly two hours on foot and by public transport from her home in a remote and deeply impoverished region of Lahj governorate to reach the health centre.
“I have come here twice so far, during this pregnancy,” said Ms. Ali. “My two previous children were born at this facility, and I received all the care that I needed during labor. I started breastfeeding them from their very first hours, not giving them anything else and following a schedule, as I was told to do, to ensure their proper feeding.
“The tests, medicines, x-rays and other services here are all good here, and I am very satisfied,” Ms. Ali said. “I hope these services can continue, because of my poverty and the difficult situation in this country, and how it affects people like me.”
Following onto lessons and successful outcomes of the support provided to the Ras Al-Ara hospital in early 2022 by WHO in partnership with KSrelief, the provision of essential medicines, supplies and training was scaled-up in late 2022 to other health facilities, including Faj Attan. To date, these facilitates have received essential medicines and long-lasting equipment including incubators, hemoglobin-testing devices and pregnancy weight scales.
Dr. Awadh expressed appreciation to WHO and KSrelief for supporting the health centre and its maternal health programme with essential reproductive health kits as well as trainings for staff on infant breastfeeding, child nutrition, and health education that contribute to improved health conditions in surrounding households and communities. She also stressed the need for this vital support to be continued.
“I have dreamed of being a doctor since childhood, and I am proud to work here,” said Dr. Awadh. “Years ago, there was no health facility here and all babies were delivered at home. Emergency medical cases had to be transferred to Aden, about 80 kilometers distance from here."
“Even after 16 years of working here, the trainings have increased my knowledge and confidence for dealing with patients,” continued Dr. Awadh. “Although we don’t have everything we need, the trainings and other support that we are receiving from WHO and KSrelief means that we can save more lives – and that is meaningful – beyond description.”
Story: Laila Asda, Kevin Cook / WHO Yemen
Photos: WHO-Yemen