While countries worldwide struggle to prepare for and prevent the spread of COVID-19, Yemen is still fighting another battle: protecting Yemeni citizens, including their 1.2 million internally displaced people, plus the country’s 300,000 refugees, from the horrors of an ongoing war.
On April 8, 2020, Hays District in Al Hudaydah governorate was the target of a gruesome bombing. One victim, Mohammad, is a child just six months old; a fragment from an exploding bomb penetrated his retina. Mohammad was rushed to Hays General Hospital, where doctors determined they were unable to save the child’s vision.
Mohammad’s story highlights the suffering faced by the people of Yemen, who have lived in an active war zone since 2015. In the April 8 bombing, 2 people were injured and there was one death. Since the war began, the number of injuries and deaths in Yemen has been alarming. According to The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project, it is estimated that over 100,000 people have lost their lives due to the war.
MedGlobal is working to address the urgent issues that have accompanied this war: an overwhelmed healthcare system, inadequate access to healthcare, insufficient training and capacity-building opportunities for the local healthcare professionals who remain. Now, we’re ramping up our response, adding urgent COVID-19 relief for Yemen’s most vulnerable populations. MedGlobal has supported Hays General Hospital with donations of medical supplies and critical medicines in the past, and we will help them to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic.
To support our work, please visit: https://medglobal.org/covid-19-international/