Yemen: MSF Responds to the Consequences of Violence in the South

In southern Yemen, where political tensions and clashes continue, Doctors Without Borders is continuously adapting its activities to ensure access to health care for wounded people and life-threatening cases. The organization is involved in two emergency care facilities, organizes the transfer of injured people to Aden, and provides primary care and hospitalization for the population in parts of Aden, Abyan and Lahj governorates.

For more than a year, waves of violence in southern Yemen has caused many injuries and affected the ability of the health care system to cope with needs. In recent months, MSF has provided financial support, human resources and medical supplies to two emergency rooms in the region and a private hospital in Aden in order to offer people in the area access to free-of-charge health care for violence-related medical and surgical emergencies.

The volatile, ever-shifting context requires the organization to constantly redefine where and how to intervene, both in order to get closer to the patients in need and to ensure the safety of medical staff.

Yemen 2010 © Agnes Montanari - An MSF staff member tends to a wounded Yemeni patient.