As health system collapses, disease kills more Yemenis
The blockades imposed by the warring Saudi-led Arab coalition and Houthi rebels in Yemen have caused severe medicine shortages, which in turn led to the spread of diseases.
SANAA, Yemen — In Al-Gumhouri Teaching Hospital in Sanaa, a security guard in a hallway has covered his mouth and nose with a face mask and refuses to shake hands with patrons asking his permission to visit patients in the hospital. The guard told one of the visitors, “Sorry, we are taking precautions because of the virus.”
He was referring to the swine flu virus (H1N1), which has been infecting residents of one of the poorest countries in the Middle East amid a devastating civil war that has attracted regional intervention and has been ongoing for 11 months. This new killer came on the scene in mid-January, and as of the beginning of February had killed 20 people and infected 26 others, according to statements Al-Monitor obtained from the Yemeni Ministry of Health.
