Over 6,000 Yemenis Die Every Month from Diseases! Breakdown in Health Services [Archives:1998/48/Front Page]

Over 6,000 Yemenis die every month from malaria, dysentery, respiratory diseases, typhoid, hepatitis B, AIDS, and other illnesses. Estimates indicate that about 41% of the Yemeni population suffers from one disease or another. Of these, a solid 9% wither away annually.
More than 12% of the population is infected with malaria. In some areas, as in the village of Khamis Bani Sa’ad some 150 kilometers west of Sanaa on the Hodeidah highway, the infection covers nearly 100% of the children. Thus, it is not surprising that on an annual basis, some 20,000 Yemenis die of malaria.
Another sad story is related to gastro-intestinal diseases, among which the main ones are diarrhoea and various respiratory problems. These are especially fatal to children.
Then there is Hepatitis B. Nearly 15% of the Yemeni population is afflicted by this deadly disease, which cannot be treated. The carriers are likely to develop liver cirrhosis and cancer, eventually leading to death.
Typhoid is another devastating disease. The Sanaa Central Medical Laboratories examined 1500 patients (with the Widal test) during the third quarter of 1998, and found that 755 (more than 50%) patients were infected with positive titer.
However, the more ominous danger is the spread of AIDS in Yemen. No reliable information is available about AIDS, because of socio-cultural inhibitions. There are some 600 AIDS patients under medical treatment, while some 3,000 are on the loose. Another 10,000 are estimated to be HIV positive.
Medical reports indicate that 5% of the 10,000 blood donors who approached the local hospitals were found to be carriers of the virus. Five people out of every one thousand foreigners who seek residence permits in Yemen are also HIV positive. A study made on 612 Yemenis who were living abroad and returned indicated that 1.5% are infected.
Over the month of November alone, there were 761 deaths reported due to malaria in Lahej, Hodeidah and Taiz; 217 deaths of gastro-intestinal problems in Ibb, Taiz, Sanaa and Hadhramaut; 102 deaths of typhoid in Aden, Ibb and Dhamar; 51 deaths of hepatitis B in Hadhramaut, Abyan and Sanaa. In November, 14 kidney patients died when the only dialysis machine in Hodeidah was temporarily out of service due to lack of spare parts. The list goes on and on.
Sad stories keep pouring in about citizens who wither away in different parts of the country because of breakdowns in health services. Yemen’s medical problem is reaching crisis level. “The Ministry of Health is doing its best,” says a beleaguered Dr. Abdullah Abdul-Wali Nasher, Minister of Health. Indeed, the Minister and his team are fighting hard, but it is an uphill battle.
To start with, the Ministry inherited a big problem, long neglected. Second, resources are meager, given that annual government health allocations are around 3% of the total budget. This translates into US$ 3.7 per capita per year. Third, influential Yemenis are rarely interested in local health services because they do not depend on them. They fly out for their medical needs. Thus, Yemen’s health services will remain substandard.
The minister says he hopes for more foreign support.
By Yemen Times staff:
Nadwa Al-Dawsari, Sanaa,
Mohammed Al-Qadhi, Taiz,
Yusuf Al-Sharif, Aden.
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