Coronavirus might turn out to be fatal for war-torn Yemen

Yemen, a country in middle east with ongoing civil war for over five years which has led to the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet. The war in Yemen is very complicated and raging in full blaze with end nowhere near. In simplest words, it’s a conflict between the Houthi rebels and the internationally recognized government along with their various coalitions who have their own interests. The consequences of which have to be faced by the civilians.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Yemen, including at least 12,000 civilians, as well as estimates of more than 85,000 dead as a result of an ongoing famine due to the war, according to ACLED.

Citizens of Yemen are living in high poverty with most of them unable to afford even the basic commodities essential for survival such as safe drinking water. According to UN, every 4 out of 5 Yemeni citizen requires humanitarian aid of some kind. Earlier this year, a cholera outbreak affected more than 7000 people and cholera cases have caused more than 1500 deaths in Yemen, since 2018.

It’s unimaginable how worse the coronavirus outbreak can make the already horrifying situation. People of Yemen are badly malnourished and the medical system is ill equipped to deal with it. As of June 5, 2020, there are more than 457 cases of COVID-19 in the country and more than 30 deaths. There have been reports of many hospitals declining to admit the patients with the symptoms of COVID-19 because the healthcare workers lack the protective gears and hospitals are short of ventilators. Yemen has negligible capacity to carry on mass testing for coronavirus. COVID-19 outbreak might turn out to be fatal for Yemen as many experts already fear about it. How can the people afford face masks and hand sanitizers when they can barely afford one meal a day?

To make things worse, UN had to severely cut assistance to Yemen as its funding dries up. As a result, about 75% of UN programmes in Yemen have ended or reduced but the people are still in need. United Nations and Saudi Arabia are making an urgent plea for funding to keep the aid operations going in war-torn Yemen and yet people are unaware about it as the media coverage is significantly low.

People of Yemen are living a life which is a nightmare in itself that can’t be imagined getting worse, but yet it is getting even more horrifying. A country already on its knees caused by the ever-ending war, widespread famine and cholera outbreaks might fall down completely if not helped in time.