Health
UNICEF is committed to ensure that children and their families can benefit from lifesaving healthcare assistance and be protected from preventable diseases
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The Challenge
With no end in sight to the conflict, the economic crisis, disease and displacement, the situation of Yemeni children and families is set to worsen, with an anticipated 23.7 million people (72 per cent of the population) in need of humanitarian assistance. This includes 12.9 million children, that is four out of five children.
More than 10 million children and close to 5 million women cannot properly access health services.
These huge needs come at a time when the health system is on the brink of collapse. Half the health facilities have either been partially damaged or completely destroyed by conflict, and health workers have not been paid in the last two years. Medicines and medical equipment are in short supply. Outbreaks of epidemic and water-borne diseases such as cholera and diphtheria show how precarious public health is in the current situation.
Without access to basic and obstetric health care, clean water, sanitation facilities, food and shelter, young children and mothers are becoming more vulnerable to infectious and preventable diseases.
The Solution
Using a mix of emergency response strategies, UNICEF and its partners are supporting the public health system to prevent its complete collapse and, where possible, to operate at pre-conflict levels. In areas with no functioning health centers, integrated mobile teams, community health workers and community midwives go in to screen children and women for malnutrition, diseases and pregnancy-related complications and provide treatment where possible or refer cases to facilities.
Over 2.9 million children and women received primary health care in UNICEF-supported facilities in 2021.
UNICEF continues to scale up its vaccination services to reach as many children as possible to protect them from preventable diseases such as measles, diphtheria, tetanus and polio, among others.
- In 2021, UNICEF supported the vaccination of 3.8 million children under the age of 5 against polio. More than 817,000 children aged 0-12 months were vaccinated against measles.
- UNICEF supported Mother Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) services in 23 hospitals providing operational assistance, as well as equipment and supplies. In addition, through the support to 4,500 static Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTP) centres and 288 mobile teams, treatment and prevention of malnutrition services were scaled up.
UNICEF’s 2022 HAC appeal is for US$125 million to ensure it humanitarian health programming, including support for lifesaving services. Urgent needs total US$70 million