UAE top donor country for Yemen response plan

The United Arab Emirates has topped a list of donor countries contributing to the United Nation’s Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, YHRP 2019.

According to data released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the UAE contributed $195 million towards the YHRP since the beginning of this year and until 2nd July.

It is worth mentioning that the UAE also provided $5.59 billion in foreign assistance to Yemen between April 2015 and June 2019.

According to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, 66 per cent of the amount went towards development ventures and 34 per cent to humanitarian relief.

The UAE, through its humanitarian arm, the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) launched a campaign to treat and prevent cholera epidemic in Al Waziiyah District, Taez Governorate, Yemen.

The ERC provided medical assistance distributed to health centres in Al Waziiyah District to control and eradicate the cholera epidemic.

The six-days anti-cholera campaign will include the cleaning of a number of water wells and draining swamps to get rid of the bacteria carrying the disease.

It will also include distributing leaflets to raise the awareness of the people about the causes and symptoms of cholera and the sources of infection and methods of prevention as well as to provide them with medicines and tools for water purification.

The ERC representative in the Red Sea Coast said that urgent intervention was taken to treat cholera patients by sending medical teams and providing necessary medicines to health centres and units. He pointed out that the campaign aims at eradicating the epidemic that threatens the lives of thousands of Yemenis.

For his part, Ahmed Abdo Al Zarafi, Director-General of Al Waziiyah District, stated that the emergency intervention by ERC to combat the disease has helped Yemeni families to overcome this disease.

The beneficiaries praised the UAE’s support in health, education, relief, sectors, among others, that contributed to the normalisation of life and restore stability to all liberated areas of Yemen.

Meanwhile, the UAE’s contribution to Yemen’s health sector, since the beginning of the year, has been significant and tangible, the ERC said in its latest report, highlighting health projects, programmes and initiatives launched during the “Year of Tolerance.” The contribution included the restoration of hospitals and health centres, the launch of programmes to combat diseases and epidemics, training medical personnel and covering the cost of treating patients outside Yemen, ERC’s mid-year report said.

The Year of Tolerance began with the arrival of a shipment of medicines weighing 25 tonnes at Aden Port in Yemen, which were distributed to health centres on the Red Sea coast, as well as the launch of the Economy and Political Science College Medical Clinic.

The UAE has restored, since the beginning of 2019, 23 hospitals and health centres in Yemen’s liberated governorates, including six hospitals in Taez and Hadramaut, 11 health centres in the Red Sea Coast and Hadramaut, two specialist units in Aden and Socotra, and four clinics on the Red Sea Coast and Aden.

In terms of health care operations, the UAE provided necessary medicinal supplies and medical equipment, including nine containers carrying essential medicines delivered to the Yemeni Ministry of Public Health and Population.

The report said that these humanitarian efforts are a realisation of the UAE’s message and humanitarian stance towards the Yemeni people, and have helped restore Yemen’s medical sector, which faced systematic destruction by the Iranian-backed Houthi militias.

The UAE supported 200 humanitarian cases and 300 people wounded by the Houthi militias, and donated nine containers of medicines to the Yemeni Ministry of Health, which eased the suffering of thousands of Yemenis.

On the Red Sea coast, the UAE has launched seven medical centres, including the Al Matina Centre in Al Tahita and a health centre in Al Shujaira.

WAM