Yemen, where giving birth to a child can cost you your life: every two hours a woman dies in childbirth from preventable causes

ROME – Samia, ninth month pregnant, is one of 4.5 million people displaced by the ongoing conflict in Yemen since 2015. Five years ago she left her home and moved to Al-Basateen, near Aden, at the home of family members. When the economic situation worsened and her husband was left without a job, she settled in the Al-Ribat IDP site in Lahj governorate, where more than 3,000 people live in tents. In places like these there are women and men of INTERSOS, Italian non-governmental organization, currently present in 19 countries around the world, including Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan, Iraq and Somalia. At the moment, the only Italian NGO present in Yemen. Where the civil war began on October 16, 2014. A conflict (and its real reasons) between the factions that claim to constitute the legitimate government of the country, together with their external allies.

Happy birth in the mobile clinic. Samia was followed up by the INTERSOS staff right from the start, she received all the prenatal care she needed and her pregnancy had no complications. Until the ninth month, when our doctor diagnosed her with vaginal bleeding for which she was referred to Al-Wahat District Hospital. Here, an ultrasound scan with normal parameters resolved all concerns and Samia was discharged. The next day she went into labor and her husband took her to the INTERSOS mobile clinic where, from an emergency delivery, a beautiful and healthy baby was born, who immediately spread joy among her staff.

Too many women lack access to care. After the baby was born, the midwife made a home visit to Samia’s home to make sure mom and baby were doing well. She did it accompanied by Ola, one of our precious volunteers engaged in community awareness activities, who follow, accompany and inform many mothers of the community on the importance of breastfeeding and on the best practices for feeding newborns. Samia was lucky, but there are many, too many women in Yemen who don’t have access to basic health services every day.

Three quarters of the population is assisted. After a conflict now in its eighth year, 21.6 million people in Yemen, almost three-quarters of the entire population, are in need of humanitarian assistance. The health system is hanging by a thread. Only half of all health facilities are still in operation and of these, only 20% provide maternal and child health services. In Yemen, every two hours a woman dies in childbirth of usually preventable causes. 5.5 million women and girls of childbearing age need reproductive health services. 1.5 million pregnant and lactating women are severely malnourished. Three-quarters of Yemen’s 4.5 million displaced people are women and children, most of whom have been displaced multiple times.*

The work of INTERSOS in various Yemeni centres. In Yemen, integrated emergency health, nutrition and protection services are offered to conflict-affected and displaced people in Hajja (Abs and Ku’aydina districts), Aden (Al-Buraiqa and Dar Sa’ad districts) and Lahj (IDP camp of Al-Ribat in the Tuban district). In Hajja there are two INTEROS mobile clinics supporting four health facilities, providing medicines and medical equipment. It operates with three ambulances with resuscitation equipment and helps two district hospitals which are also supplied with medicines and equipment. In addition, integrated emergency protection services are guaranteed, with health and nutrition services. In Aden and Lahj, the NGO works with many volunteers for community outreach. Three mobile clinics and two ambulances with resuscitation equipment are in operation to transfer emergency cases to the nearest hospitals. Here too we deal with protection, together with the volunteers who accompany the staff in the interviews and in the provision of the various support services.