Newly Restored Health Facilities in Ma'rib Provide Lifeline to Affected Communities

Ma’rib – It is difficult to remember how life used to be before the conflict, but many Yemenis would say that they were content with their life before the war.

Nawal Zain is an obstetrics specialist in Al Wahda Hospital, Al Husoon in Ma’rib, north-west of Yemen. Ma’rib governorate hosts the highest number of displaced people with IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix estimating that nearly 78,500 individuals were displaced in 2021 alone. The influx of the displaced has further stretched the already weakened public health services in the governorate.

When she first started working there, the operation rooms were out of service, the consultation room needed rehabilitation and lacked many types of equipment, and there were not enough doctors at the hospital.

She has been working for four years in that Hospital, which is one of the few functioning health facilities in Ma’rib that displaced people and those affected by the conflict can rely on.

“The hospital lacked staff and health services were limited and could not meet the demand in Ma’rib because of the influx of the displaced people, in addition to a large population,” explained Dr. Nawal. 

Years of conflict in Yemen have resulted in a total collapse of the health infrastructure. Only half of the country’s health facilities are functional. The suspension of payments for health-care workers has worsened the situation.

Like many displaced families, Mohammed struggles every day to provide his children with the most basic necessities like access to food, water and health services.

“I had to leave my home because of the conflict. My family and I are now living in Al 
Husoon, in Ma’rib. We have been displaced for more than four years,” recalled Mohammed.

“We didn’t have access to health services, life was difficult,” the father added, noting that displacement made it hard for his children to receive proper health care before receiving assistance.

More than 20 million people are in need of healthcare and having access to basic health services is a real struggle for most displaced communities.

Shabe'e is a community leader in Al Matar neighborhood. His community also does not have access to sufficient health care. 

“Al Matar Health Unit is the only health facility in the area, and it serves around 60,000 people, including displaced people and the host community. People from the outskirts of Al Husoon come to this health unit too. Others even come from Al Rawdah or Al Jufainah seeking health care here,” explained Shabe’e.

Like Al Wahda Hospital, Al Matar Health Unit suffered greatly due to the huge and increasing demand for health care caused by recent displacement. 

“At the beginning of 2021, the health unit was not working at its full capacity because of the increased number of patients and limited space,” recalled Mohsinah Saroun, the Director of Al Matar Health Unit.

When the pandemic broke out, the situation became even worse.

“We used to conduct some treatments in the yard because of the COVID-19 outbreak in July,” added Mohsinah.

To respond to communities’ call for health support, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the European Union partnered to rehabilitate Al Wahda Hospital and Al Matar Health Unit in Ma’rib. 

IOM selected the locations of its intervention based on needs assessment to meet the communities’ critical demand for health care.

“Before this intervention, there was one doctor only, and we lacked the most basic essentials in this hospital,” explained Sadam Al-Azani, the Deputy Manager of Al Wahda Hospital.

“After IOM’s support, the hospital has now an Emergency Obstetric Department, a new nursery,
and an operating room which enables us to perform surgeries in the hospital,” he added. 

IOM’s work in Al Wahda Hospital also included the provision of equipment and furniture which allowed the hospital to take in more patients and provide more services that were previously unavailable like Gynecology care.

“The rehabilitation and equipment provision will improve our life. The organization has provided everything, including medications. I expect a brighter future for us,” said Mohammed with a feeling of gratitude. 

Beside Al Wahda Hospital, IOM also worked on improving the capacity and services provided by Al Matar Health Unit.

Before the restoration of Al Matar Health Unit, the services were not available and were not adequate in general. Consequently, the host community felt that the services were insufficient, and that displaced people came to take over these limited services, which caused a conflict between the host community and the displaced community over health care opportunities.  

“The rehabilitation work included building a second floor in accordance with the agreed upon measures and required standards. The unit was provided with all necessary medical equipment as well as furniture to ensure it functions well,” explained Fawaz Sha'alan, IOM Construction Engineer.

After the expansion of the second floor, the unit started providing high-quality services. It delivers extensive vaccination services, including COVID-19 vaccination, and maternal and reproductive care to women including family planning and prenatal and postnatal care.

“This improvement has an excellent effect because it solved the conflict between the hosting and displaced communities. The services before were very weak, but this has changed after IOM’s intervention,” explained Sahar Hassan, a member of the committee to resolve disputes in Al Wadi District.

IOM also supported by installing a laboratory and an internal pharmacy which allow the health unit to provide more services to both host and displaced communities in need.

 “This health facility was important to me because all my family, friends, and displaced people are the ones who need the services it provides,” said Mohsinah.

“Thanks to the donors and those who supported and contributed to rehabilitating the second floor and expanding it. It allowed us to improve our services and make high-quality services available,” she concluded.

Beside Al Wahda and Al Matar, IOM and the European Union also rehabilitated Maneen Al Hadad Hospital in Ma’rib and three other health centers and one veterinary clinic in Lahj. This health intervention reached 145,866 beneficiaries in Ma’rib and 14,624 beneficiaries in Lahj.

This story was written by Mennatallah Homaid, Communication Assistant