Samaritan’s Purse launches new team to care for acute malnutrition and other illnesses in this war-ravaged nation.
Even with a truce in effect until early October, Yemen continues to suffer the devastating effects of civil war. Families displaced from their homes are living in squalid camps without adequate healthcare.
In July, Samaritan’s Purse launched a mobile medical team that serves 11 different sites in Yemen.
Acute malnutrition among children under the age of 5 has reached the highest levels ever recorded in the nation. Nearly 2.2 million boys and girls within this age range are currently at risk.
Samaritan’s Purse has been working to meet medical needs since August 2021 by offering essential health and nutrition services at two health facilities in Taiz Governorate. But much of the population lives far from either of these facilities, so we launched a mobile medical team in July that travels to 11 different sites in the region.
One Family’s Story: ‘We Are So Grateful’
Ammar* and his wife, mother, sister, and five children know the bitterness of displacement. He had been a fisherman for 30 years before the war forced them to move and move again.
Ammar and his family are grateful for the medical services the mobile team provides.
“I tried to return more than once to our house, but the area is still unsafe,” said Ammar, noting that a large part of his residence had been destroyed and that the war has kept him from job opportunities that would allow him to provide for his family.
“Before we used to go to private clinics, but after displacement and as a result of the difficult economic situation, I am totally dependent on humanitarian assistance,” he said.
In July, his son had severe diarrhea, which left him dehydrated. Samaritan’s Purse mobile medical team took care of him and educated the family on the causes of his condition as well as treatment and prevention.
Today, two more of his children are also being treated for malnutrition, his wife is receiving care for her pregnancy, and he is being seen for high blood pressure and diabetes—all by the mobile medical clinic staff. Until Samaritan’s Purse came, none of these services had been available to them since they fled their home in 2019.
“We are still lucky to get good medical care for all my family members by the great Samaritan’s Purse mobile health team,” Ammar said. “We are so grateful.”
Expansive Care from a Small Team
Comprised of a doctor, a nurse, a midwife, and a nutritionist, our mobile medical team is serving five camps of internally displaced people as well as six sites with vulnerable populations, including nomads. Between all locations, nearly 7,500 Yemenis now have access to medical care that were without it before.
Displaced people and other vulnerable populations are grateful for the healthcare they receive from Samaritan’s Purse.
“The mobile team provides consultations, medications, treatment of malnutrition, vaccination, maternal health, and other health promotion activities, bringing medical care to individuals in the community that lack access to health services,” said Jerwin Capuras, Samaritan’s Purse health and nutrition program manager in Yemen.
In addition, the team is treating malaria, dengue fever, diarrheal diseases, and injuries, as well as offering pre- and post-natal care.
At each site, the mobile team has also trained two community health and nutrition volunteers who assist in screenings and serve as liaisons between the community and the medical professionals.
Our mobile medical team is screening more than 125 children for malnutrition each week, and treating 40 of these who suffer from an acute form of the disease. We are also working with the Ministry of Health to supply vaccines to children in remote areas and have treated 30 cases of eye disease in one displacement camp. In just their first month of operation, the team offered a total of nearly 900 consultations.
Please pray that God would continue to use this mobile medical team to help relieve some of the suffering that the people of Yemen are experiencing. Ask also that the existing truce would lead to lasting peace in the country.
*Name changed for security
