Officially, coronavirus cases in Yemen are below 850, with 209 deaths, but with limited testing and a healthcare system where over 50% of hospitals are closed, the real figure is likely to be much higher.
Officially, coronavirus cases in Yemen are below 850, with 209 deaths, but with limited testing and a healthcare system where over 50% of hospitals are closed, the real figure is likely to be much higher.
Yemen has been facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis for five years – battling crippling war, famine and cholera. Millions of people are starving, and there is virtually no healthcare system.
According to some reports, Yemen only has 10 health workers per 10,000 people. The UN warns that the coronavirus pandemic could “delete Yemen from maps all over the world”. We cannot let that happen.
Penny Appeal is on the ground in Yemen, delivering Food, Water and Hygiene Kits, as well as PPE and COVID-19 Testing Kits for hospitals and emergency centres. Please consider donating to Yemen: we need urgent support from everyone reading this, right now.
Yemen: The Crisis Explained
80% of the Yemeni population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
With the Yemen conflict well into its fifth year with no end in sight, the Yemeni people have been struggling to survive a terrible famine, armed conflict, and outbreaks of disease like cholera for years, and now the coronavirus pandemic could decimate an already weakened population.
The UN estimates that 130 children under the age of 5 die each day from hunger and disease in Yemen. This was happening before COVID-19; how many more malnourished children will lose their lives to the deadly combination of starvation, thirst and coronavirus now?
Officially, coronavirus cases in Yemen are below 850, with 209 deaths, but with limited testing and a healthcare system where over 50% of hospitals are closed, the real figure is likely to be much higher.
How to Help Yemen: Our Emergency Response
Penny Appeal is working hand in hand with Islamic Help, the Humanitarian Forum and the International Blue Crescent to reach vulnerable Yemenis with life-saving food, water and hygiene essentials and to strengthen healthcare systems by providing PPE and Testing Kits to hospitals.
Our work is focused in Aden and Taiz, where millions of internally displaced Yemeni people are struggling to survive, having fled from conflict in other parts of the country.
Food and Water
Penny Appeal has reached over 2,100 Yemeni people in recent weeks with Food Packs containing essentials such as rice, lentils, sugar and wheat. We plan to expand our programmes to provide life-saving food to more people.
We are providing 13 communities in Taiz with 3,000-litre water tanks that will be filled three times a week, providing clean water to 12,500 people.
For one month, 100 extremely vulnerable Yemeni families in Taiz will also receive daily nutritious cooked meals from local restaurants.
Hygiene Kits
We’ve provided Hygiene Kits to 2,100 displaced people in Aden and Taiz, including soap, towels, detergent and antiseptic soap. We are planning to expand our distributions to protect more lives from COVID-19.
PPE and Hospital Equipment
We have distributed PPE and Coronavirus Testing Kits to Aden State Hospital and 26 Emergency Operation Centres, to help protect lives and prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
With your support, we have helped over 82,000 people in Yemen over the last five years. However, in a country where 24 million people needed humanitarian aid even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, we urgently need your help to reach more extremely vulnerable Yemeni people.
Your Donations in Action | Zakaria’s Story
Zakaria Ahmed was just 8 months old when he was referred to the Outpatient Department of a medical facility which Penny Appeal funds in Amanat Alasimah.
This adorable little boy was suffering with Severe Acute Malnutrition and diarrhoea. The medical centre gave Zakaria antibiotics and put him on our Plumpy Nuts feeding programme. When he got healthy enough, he was discharged and got to go home with his mummy.
The centre’s community visitors went to see Zakaria 8 more times for follow-up visits, to make sure that he was getting better. Every part of this process, from the medicine to the community health workers, has been funded by us here at Penny Appeal.
Zakaria’s mother, Rowaida, said: “I was very worried about the health of my child Zakaria; but thanks to Penny Appeal’s team, starting from the community health workers to the medical staff, and their dedicated work and continuously following up, my dream came true and Zakaria is finally healthy.”
The UN estimates that 130 children under the age of 5 die every day from hunger and disease in Yemen – and the situation is becoming more dire every day, due to COVID-19.
Help us save lives by supporting malnourished babies and children like Zakaria to become healthy and happy.
Help Yemen
We are so proud of the work we are doing in Yemen, to help people survive and live with dignity in the midst of this terrible humanitarian crisis.
But with 24 million people in need of aid, and the threat of COVID-19 decimating this vulnerable population, there is still a lot of work to do. We urgently need your help; every penny counts.
Donate to our Yemen Appeal today, and you could save a life.
To learn more about Penny Appeal, click here.
