On the borders of the Horn of Africa and the Arab world, two areas still little affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, Yemen is a dangerous health black box, from which disturbing echoes have been reaching since the beginning of May . In this fragmented country, devoid of a functional health system after five years of war, no unified response could be organized in the face of the epidemic risk. The multiple authorities who share control of the country do not cooperate, limiting the scope of aid workers. On the contrary, despite calls for a cease-fire, the various belligerents in the country do not seem ready to silence their weapons, not perceiving the health crisis otherwise than in the light of their political interests.
From one region to another, the desire of local potentates to hide the scale of the epidemic or the lack of means to measure it contribute to maintaining a perilous vagueness which worries the humanitarians. One thing is certain: from Sanaa, the capital, in the north of the country, controlled by Houthi rebels, to Aden, in the south, where a secessionist entity rejects government authority, the virus is there, and in proportions well above the official figure of seventy cases. Covid-19 has been circulating for weeks in an already weakened immune community, where malnutrition, cholera and dengue fever are already taking their toll in some areas.
Endangered populations
In Sana'a, the Houthi rebels, fought by Saudi Arabia since 2015, have chosen the strictest opacity with regard to the disease. "They want to control information at all costs, as if it were a vital issue, while help can only be obtained if the figures give an idea of the urgency of the situation. It's incomprehensible ", says a European humanitarian source in the capital, who adds: "Tests have been done on patients suffering from respiratory disease, but it is out of the question, for them, to let the results filter, which would only reveal the tip of the iceberg …" The World Health Organization announced on Sunday that it will suspend the activities of its workers in areas controlled by the Houthis, a move to pressure the rebels to reveal the number of cases recorded.
Sultana Begum (Norwegian Refugee Council): “Yemen cannot both wage war and fight against Covid-19. The belligerents must lay down their arms and concentrate their efforts on the fight against the Covid-19 "
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