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By Sr. Nina Benedikta Krapi?, VMZ

Caritas is providing help in Yemen, a country that is shattered after nearly 9 years of war and hit by one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 21.6 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen.

One of the major problems there is health care. Health care centres have been devastated. Local people are running out of medicines and blood supplies. Due to the economic crisis, there are no funds to pay staff salaries, medicines and purchasing medical equipment.

Marisol Martinez, emergency manager for Caritas Internationalis, who was recently in Yemen and visited activities of Caritas on the field, spoke with Pope

“A lot of people are lacking of everything, lacking of food. There are big problems of malnutrition”, says Martinez and highlights the lack of access to water, health services and sanitation. “The major problem is that the government doesn't have the funds to respond to the basic needs of the population”.

The pharmacy of Caritas Poland in Yemen

Providing medical help for more than 62 thousand people

Caritas Poland, a member of Caritas Internationalis is on the field running a project in Aden governorate, supporting five health care centres, providing services to more than 62 thousand children and vulnerable adults.

Martinez shares that “there is a doctor that can provide general consultation for the patients. There is a gynaecological service for prenatal, postnatal care, the follow-up of pregnant women”. There is also a pharmacy that provides medical and non-medical supplies, a laboratory and a nutrition service for the prevention of malnutrition, “but all this is very modest”, says Martinez.

The most common diseases treated at the health centres include measles, tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, and tetanus.

Caritas also provides salaries for the staff. The salaries that are assured by the government for medical doctors diminished to 500 hundred dollars.

Caritas in Yemen, the "mom kit"

Pregnant women and children

Caritas pays special attention to taking care of pregnant women, especially the ones with high–risk pregnancies.

One of the main problems in health centres is that they do not have incubators for newborns. The nearest place to find an incubator is an hour away, and mothers are so poor that they cannot afford to pay for transportation. There is a dire shortage of incubators that could save lives, because asphyxia is one of the main reasons for infant mortality.

In the midst of devastation, there is life being born. In one of the health centres, called Kuwait, "every day there are 30 new babies!" shared Martinez.