Hodiedah: Overflow Sewage, Rubbish and Diseases Make the Once Beautiful City a Danger Zone [Archives:2000/44/Health]
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October 30 2000
Farouq Al-Kamali, Taiz
For the last ten days we were visiting Hodiedah, where the Rift Valley Fever recently killed many people due to the authorities negligence and their inability to fight the disease or its causes. They blackmail the citizens by taking money from them to make a spraying campaign to kill mosquitoes in their areas with traditional means. They also attempted to fight the disease by prohibiting the selling of meat. They also put check- points to stop cattle move from the infected areas. This caused the citizens much suffering because cattle are their only means of living. The government did not offer those citizens any compensatory assistance. Some merchants make use of this situation and transport the cattle at night. We saw this happen on Hodiedah-Taiz road where a Hilux was carrying some calves to Taiz. Some people told us that those merchants bribe the guards at the check-point to let them pass freely between Hodiedah and Taiz. The rainfall on Hodiedah Governorate made the problem worse. Swamps made a convenient environment for mosquitoes causing this disease. The people are worried about the increase of areas where the disease is spreading. The Rift Valley Fever was not the only epidemic in Hodiedah. Bilharzia and malaria were also there. Hot weather, humidity, swamps and sewage on the streets help spread of the disease. The damaged streets are also full of rubbish and beggars driven by poverty and hunger. Those beggars sleep in cottages at night and live on the sidewalks during the day. Beside the damaged streets, with piles of garbage and sewage running in the streets, Hodiedah is suffering from the random building of houses and the big number of cottages that spread after the Yemeni immigrants returned from the Gulf states in the early nineties. The biggest problem the people of Hodiedah are suffering from is the inefficiency of health services. Nothing indicates that there are any hospitals or doctors. A single visit to Al-Olofy Hospital shows clearly the suffering of the people of Hodiedah. This hospital, the oldest in the governorate, is lacking cadres and medical equipment. Patients are thrown in the hospital wards without any due care. What makes it worse is that the rural hospitals like Bajel and Al-zahra Hospitals that receive the Rift Valley Fever patients, are lacking medical equipment and there is only one doctor and few nurses who treat emergency cases themselves. The biggest problem that makes the people of Hodiedah worry is the high electricity bills. We heard them complain about the exorbitant electricity bills that they can not pay. However, they cannot do without fans, air conditioners or refrigerators in a very hot city like Hodiedah. What is regrettable is that millions of rials are spent on inaugurating projects for decorating streets while the problems mentioned earlier exist. What is more surprising is the building of an arch called the Arch of Triumph at the entrance of the city. This arch cost YR 35,000,000. This money should have better been directed to improve the most important sectors like health and education. Hodiedah is a miserable city and its people suffer from different problems that need be solved by the government. Thus, we will continue, in coming issues, discussing health and education aspects with the people and the governor, who has recently been appointed and from whom the citizens expect a reform movement to redeem the deteriorating situations there.
