WHO seeks $31m to expand health response in Yemen as fighting escalates

Mixed · 2The World Health Organization said it urgently needs $31 million to expand its health response in Yemen, more than triple its previous target of $9 million, because needs have grown. 1 2 Centre · 1WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that nearly 1,000 people had been killed, more than 4,200 injured and almost 198,000 displaced since the latest escalation, amid cholera and measles outbreaks, and urged donors to step up. 2 Right · 1Yemen's Ministry of Health and Population reported 959 deaths and 4,207 injuries across 10 governorates from the start of the escalation in early August to Oct. 2. Nearly 198,000 people had been displaced as of Sept. 28, many more than once, according to a government unit for displaced persons camps, and another 3,800 fled to Djibouti. 1

Right · 1WHO is also seeking $700,000 to support people who have fled to Djibouti. 1 Right · 1WHO's representative in Yemen, Dr. Syed Jaffar Hussain, said the situation is becoming a complex emergency, and that trauma-stabilization points on the Lahj coast and in Al-Dhale lack partners to operate them, leaving seriously injured people without timely care. 1 Right · 1WHO said about half of health facilities in affected governorates lack partner support, and only about 1,250 of the 198,000 displaced people, under 1 percent, had received health services as of last week. Hospitals lack surgical supplies, anesthetics, blood bank stocks and fuel, and emergency maternity services have been suspended in Marib and Ras Al-Arah. 1

Right · 1Disease is spreading: WHO said cholera cases tripled in three weeks, with infections found in displacement camps, and more than 22,000 suspected measles cases and 128 deaths have been reported this year. Dengue and malaria are rising, and mobile teams found high levels of acute malnutrition among displaced children. 1 Right · 1WHO said it is preparing to expand trauma and emergency care, outbreak response, essential health services and medical supplies. It warned that without more funding the gaps will widen, and that El Niño conditions expected this month could worsen outbreaks and malnutrition. 1 Centre · 1Anadolu Agency described the background: Yemen has been in conflict since the Houthis seized Sanaa and several provinces in September 2014, and a Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015. Clashes between government forces and the Houthis resumed in July, the most intense fighting since a UN-brokered truce began in April 2022, and in September the Houthis seized key areas of Al-Hudaydah and Taiz, including Mokha and Mayyun Island. 2

Right · 1Arab News placed the emergency within a wider crisis, citing the International Organization for Migration that 22.3 million people, over two-thirds of the population, need humanitarian aid this year, and reported Saudi agency KSrelief's $2.6 million project with the IOM and its shelter distributions. 1