Mobile Medical Teams Reach Communities Cut Off from Clinics in Yemen’s West Coast

Al Makha – In southwest Ta’iz, a remote area along Yemen’s west coast, families know that if their loved ones become sick their options for health care are limited. Many must wait several days before they can arrange transport to take the ill to hospitals. 

Yemen’s west coast is home to over 17,000 displaced families living across 141 displacement sites. 

Poverty, food insecurity and harsh living conditions – combined with the absence of adequate health services – greatly compromise their health and increase their vulnerability to illnesses. Populations living in tlow-resourced areas lack access to health centres or other public services. 

Elmira*, a 31-year-old midwife, brings relief to people’s doorsteps as a member of the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Mobile Medical Team which travels to communities living in hard-to-reach areas to offer lifesaving care.

IOM’s three mobile clinics on the west coast serve populations in 23 displacement sites in Ta’iz and Al Hodeidah governorates.

Each mobile team consists of a doctor, assistant doctor, midwife, nurse and pharmacist who work together to provide primary and emergency health services including medical consultations, reproductive health, medications, immunizations, as well as maternal and child health care. The teams also refer patients in need to nearby facilities that can offer enhanced health care.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the mobile health teams have also become one of the only services people in the area can rely on for information about preventing COVID-19 and assistance for treatment. 

“We come to this area because the rough terrain, poor living conditions and an absence of transportation prevents people from reaching health care facilities. We are the only source of health care they can rely on,” explained Elmira, who has been a midwife in the town of Mawza’ since 2014. 

Every morning, Elmira and her team ride in the mobile clinic to IOM’s warehouse in Al Makha to stock medical supplies and medicine before they head to displacement camps in remote and underserved areas, sometimes near frontlines of the conflict.

“We can hear shelling from the fighting while we are doing our work, and it scares me at times,” said Elmira.  

Recent fighting in the area has brought the frontlines even closer to areas where thousands of people are displaced in sites serviced by humanitarian actors. 

Ongoing conflict, waves of displacement and the COVID-19 pandemic have overburdened the already collapsing health system, leaving nearly 20 million people in need of adequate healthcare throughout the country.

The situation is particularly dire for displaced communities. 

Ghalib Saif, 31, is a returnee in Mawza’ who lost his only source of livelihood, his sheep, when he became displaced to another location nearly 50 kilometres away. Since coming back home, he has struggled to earn a living again.

Displaced and returnee families living along the west coast are some of the most marginalized in the country. They live in fragile huts made of palm leaves, which are easily destroyed by extreme weather conditions like rain and wind.

“We are not able to provide our sick children with health care or take them to the hospital because the transportation cost to reach the nearest facility and the fees for treatment are many times higher than what we can afford,” recalled Ghalib.

Ghalib has lived through many painful experiences witnessing his community suffer from a lack of health care. 

A few months ago, a young displaced woman became sick in Mawza’. She had a tumor in her gall bladder but was never able to receive the health care she urgently needed.
Her family had to watch her die.

“Now that there is a mobile clinic that comes here, we are hopeful a tragedy like this will not happen again,” he said.

In addition to providing primary medical services, the mobile clinic transports patients in need to static health centres that can provide more intensive care – helping to avert disasters like Ghalib’s friend faced.

“The clinic has greatly reduced our suffering. We’re provided with medicine, health assistance and awareness sessions about diseases like COVID-19.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, IOM’s health teams have been focusing efforts on preventing the spread of COVID-19 among these populations.

The mobile health teams run COVID-19 screening and triage, bringing suspected cases to Al Makha Hospital for testing and treatment.

They also conduct health promotion to raise the awareness on how to prevent the spread of the disease and the importance of the vaccination, which residents of the area can receive at nearby Al Muthiana Health Centre.

"Displaced people in this area live in overcrowded sites with extremely poor living conditions, making them vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. They lack knowledge about how to prevent the disease from spreading,” said Dr. Ahmed Saeed, a physician in IOM’s health response for the west coast.

“That’s why the work we do is crucial. After learning from our health experts, communities now better understand how to protect themselves from the virus.”

Between July and early November 2021, IOM’s Mobile Medical Teams provided health services to more than 10,000 people on the west coast, and reached over 2,500 people with COVID-19 awareness sessions.  In addition, at Al Muthaina Health Centre, IOM covered incentives for health staff and stocked with medical supplies earlier in the year.

IOM’s health response for vulnerable communities in displacement sites and remote areas of the west coast is supported by the government of Canada. The government of Germany provides support for the Organization’s COVID-19 prevention and treatment work. 

This story was written by Mennatallah Homaid, IOM Yemen’s Communication Assistant

*Name has been changed for protection reasons