Yemen’s Basic Services On The Verge Of Total Collapse

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has issued a new report, in which it confirmed that the basic services in Yemen has become on the verge of collapse with the continuation of the war led by Saudi Arabia on the country for the fifth year in row.

The UN organization noted that salaries of more than 1.5 million government employees, including doctors, social workers and other public sector workers, have been suspended for more than two and a half years.

The report stated that the salary interruption led to the closure or reduction of working hours of some vital facilities like hospitals, schools, water and sanitation facilities, and other basic social services.

It pointed out that the basic public services in the country almost collapsed, where only 51% of the total health facilities are still fully functioning, although they suffer from a severe shortage of medicines, equipment and personnel.

“The war has strongly prompted the community health and the obstetric care to the front line with the increasing number of deaths among civilians, directly relating to lack of resources,” the report said.

The maternal mortality rate rose sharply during the war, from five deaths per day in 2013 to 12 deaths per day in 2018, according to the report.

The report showed that these abstract figures have other consequences. When a mother dies, this greatly increases the risk of her children dying.

“One child dies out of every 30 children during the first month of birth,” the report noted. The infant who loses his/her mother, the risk of his/her death is high, directly because of malnutrition or indirectly through increased exposure to infection.