Doctors of the World brings healthcare to the most vulnerable people, including millions facing famine in Yemen. It also campaigns for an end to the war. As The BMJ appeal closes for this year, readers have generously donated almost £14 000, and there’s still time to give more. Richard Hurley reports

After more than three years of fighting between Saudi Arabian backed government forces and rebel groups, 22 million men, women, and children—over two thirds of Yemen’s population—are at risk of starvation.

“Without ending this war, all the aid in the world can’t solve this problem,” says Wafa’a AlSaidy, a Yemini pharmacist and general coordinator in the country for Doctors of the World, speaking to The BMJ from Sana’a.

“The country is under siege. There is no fuel for people to attend, or bring their children to, health facilities.

“The situation is even worse than what you see in the media. It’s catastrophic.”

The traumatised population lack fuel, food, and water and is at risk of violence and outbreaks of infectious disease such as cholera. Healthcare facilities have been targeted and destroyed, and many staff have fled.

Access to healthcare
Doctors of the World is an international organisation bringing aid to Yemen and training local volunteers. As part of the global humanitarian Médecins du Monde network, the charity works to empower the most vulnerable, and often forgotten, people to access healthcare. It delivers 350 projects in more than 80 countries through 3000 volunteers, relying on donations to fund its work.

Yemen depends almost entirely on imported food, fuel, and drugs, and the ongoing military blockade has had a devastating impact. Since 2015, gross domestic product has shrunk by 50%, and more than 600 000 jobs have been lost. Salaries and benefits have not been paid. More than 80% of Yemenis now live below the poverty line. More than 20 million people are now food insecure, and almost a quarter of a million face imminent starvation.1

As the “forgotten crisis” has escalated, politicians and media finally started paying attention in 2018, says AlSaidy.

In October, Mark Lowcock, the United Nations’ under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told the Security Council of “an imminent famine engulfing Yemen: much bigger than anything any professional in this field has seen during their working lives.”2

Volunteers for health
Doctors of the World has been active in Yemen since 2007 but has increased capacity in response to the conflict. The charity’s volunteers work through 11 health facilities, including three hospitals, and in community clinics in the three worst affected regions, Sana’a, Ibb, and Amanat Alasimah. The clinics’ medical and nursing staff are employees, and the charity coordinates 100 lay volunteers to deliver health education and community empowerment, and an additional 60 who do mental health outreach work.

In 2018, its volunteers provided 75 000 primary healthcare consultations, screened 9000 children for malnutrition, and provided 16 500 people with mental health services. It also supplies medical equipment, emergency assistance, and essential drugs, and it supports mobile clinics for patients who cannot reach the health centres.

The charity does not shy away from voicing strong political opinions, including its call for countries such as the UK and US to suspend selling weapons to be used in the conflict.

It is one of several human rights and humanitarian organisations working in the country to have published a “call for peace” last November.3

“Any arms supplier to the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has the moral and legal responsibility to ensure that the coalition respects international humanitarian law in Yemen,” it said. “Given the unlawful attacks on civilians by all parties to the conflict,” the statement said, it was time to “suspend arms transfers that may be used in Yemen.”

End the war
At the first International Parliamentary Conference for Peace in Yemen held in Paris on 8 November 2018, Doctors of the World was one of 35 humanitarian, human rights, and peacebuilding organisations to co-sign a statement demanding that governments work together to end the war.

“The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is manmade and a direct consequence of the warring parties’ severe restrictions on access to food, fuel, medical imports, and humanitarian aid,” it said. “Civilian deaths have increased dramatically in recent months—with 450 civilians killed in just nine days in August—and violence against women and girls has risen significantly since the conflict escalated.

“There is no military solution to the war in Yemen. Only an inclusive peace process can solve the humanitarian crisis. After almost four years of conflict, Yemenis can’t wait any longer.”

AlSaidy knows this only too well: “The needs are huge—beyond the capacity of international humanitarian actors. Aid cannot replace peace,” she says.

AFP.