March 2020 – Yemen is currently the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with 24 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. The conflict and collapsing economy has pushed nearly 10 million people to the brink of famine, and over 3.6 million people have been displaced since the beginning of the crisis in 2015. Basic service provision is collapsing, including critical water, sanitation, hygiene and health services, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks such as cholera, dengue fever and diphtheria. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by the lack of access to essential services and face an increased risk of sexual and gender-based violence due to the crisis. With GAC’s multi-year support, the International Medical Corps is providing emergency health and nutrition support to up to 186,150 of the most vulnerable conflict-affected people, particularly women, in the Taiz and Lahj governorates of Yemen. Project activities include: (1) supporting primary and secondary health care services in five clinics and one hospital; (2) deploying mobile health teams to cover hard-to-reach locations and respond to disease outbreaks and displacement; (3) providing nutrition treatment services to children, and pregnant and lactating women; and (4) building community capacity to use appropriate feeding and hygiene practices, as well as detect malnutrition.
The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved access to lifesaving primary and secondary health care services that reduce excess morbidity and mortality among women, children, and other conflict-affected persons; and (2) increased access to high quality curative and preventive nutrition services for internally displaced and conflict-affected people. The expected ultimate outcome is lives saved, suffering alleviated and human dignity maintained in countries experiencing humanitarian crisis or that are facing acute food insecurity.
