In Yemen, access to care is almost impossible, especially for pregnant women. With the help of the European Union, we guarantee medical and psychological assistance to those affected by the conflict
Yemen. Hajar is 22 years old and married to Faris, 23 years old. Due to chronic anemia, she became pregnant after three years of trying and, in her seventh month, she asked for help, after being informed by INTERSOS community health volunteers about the work of the mobile clinic team in the district of Dar Sa’ad (Aden), where she settled with her husband a year ago after leaving the governorate of al-Hudaida, in the district of Al-Haly. Here, she is examined by the general practitioner and vaccinated against tetanus. Then, she is referred to the midwife to be registered for antenatal care, and to the nutritionist nurse for a screening that diagnoses her moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) and ipertension. She’s malnourished in the seventh month: it is a dangerous condition for her and the baby. She is enrolled suddenly to the supplementary feeding program, where she is treated and fed with highly therapeutic food.
In her ninth month of pregnancy, Hajar returns to be examined by our mobile health team: she is very pale and looks exhausted. Her husband has been imprisoned and the conditions in which she lives are desperate. She feels weak and dizzy and she has not slept or eaten for days. She suffers from anxiety, is very tired, and is very sad. Without her husband, she is alone, and she has no money to buy food or essential needs. Our social worker then takes care of her mental health through psychological support sessions and helps her find a lawyer for her husband. Instead, our nurse takes her for a gynecological checkup at Al-Sadaqa Hospital: severe anemia, high blood pressure, and a one-centimeter dilated cervix turn her pregnancy into a high-risk pregnancy. She then receives a blood transfusion and is kept in the hospital under monitoring for 24 hours, then discharged. Unfortunately, the hospital does not have the resources to provide care for high-risk pregnancies, and Hajar cannot be held longer or stay to be monitored constantly while waiting for safe and dignified delivery.
After spending three days at home, Hajar contacts the nurse who immediately transfers her to the midwife at the mobile clinic: the time has come, she is about to give birth. So, Nadera is born, a baby girl named after the nurse who took care of her mother. Hajar now, thanks to our staff, knows how to take care of her baby, how to handle breastfeeding, and how to feed her. Hajar is not alone and continues to be cared for by INTERSOS medical team who, after delivery, enrolls her in the postnatal and child development programme by giving her iron and folic acid, highly nutritious food and multivitamins, antibiotics and pain medication, and vaccinating Nadera against polio.
Giving birth in Yemen
Hajar’s is an uncommon story. Too many women in Yemen lack access to basic health services every day. Because of the ongoing conflict of more than seven years, more than 20 million people in the country need humanitarian assistance. The health system is hanging by a thread. Only half of all health facilities are still functioning and only 20% provide maternal and child health services. A woman dies in childbirth every two hours. Thanks to the support of the European Union, INTERSOS provides emergency integrated health, nutrition, and protection services to conflict-affected and displaced people in Hajja (Abs and Ku’aydina districts), Aden (districts of Al-Buraiqa and Dar Sa’ad) and Lahj (Al-Ribat IDP camp in Tuban district). The aim of the project is to assist more than 65,000 people.
In Hajja, we provide emergency integrated health and nutrition services through two mobile clinics and the support of four health facilities that we supply with drugs, medical and laboratory equipment, and where we pay for specialized staff, while a network of volunteers is dedicated to raising health awareness in the community. We also operate three ambulances with reanimation equipment to intervene in the most difficult cases and support two district hospitals to which we also supply drugs, and medical and laboratory equipment. To provide emergency protection services integrated with health and nutrition services, our protection experts cover the same catchment areas as the health facilities or mobile clinics, while volunteers take care of reception and assistance.
In Aden and Lahj, we have set up three mobile clinics and community outreach volunteers are working with us to raise awareness community. The mobile clinics are linked to two ambulances with reanimation equipment, which ensures the transfer of emergency cases to referral hospitals in the same areas. We run a Community Centre in Dar Sa’ad and our protection experts, through a semi-mobile team, regularly visit the Al-Ribat IDP site. Volunteers help by supporting protection staff in screening/identification, referral to specialists, community engagement, and awareness of available services.