Covid-19: MSF calls to mobilize in the face of the "disaster" in Yemen

Doctors Without Borders was alarmed, Thursday, May 21, of the "catastrophe" underway in Yemen where the pandemic of new coronavirus is spreading, for lack of human and material resources in a country ravaged by five years of war.

MSF has made an urgent appeal to the United Nations and donor countries to "do more and do it urgently, not only for Aden but for all of Yemen".

"Health workers in the country must be paid, provided with personal protective equipment and treatment centers must stock up on respirators."

The number of deaths occurring in the # Covid_19 treatment center that @MSF runs in #Aden, #Yemen, speaks to a wider catastrophe unfolding in the city, the international medical organization said today.https: //t.co/gLaOcY3AwZ

Death toll at MSF's Covid-19 treatment center in Aden, the big city in the south where dengue, malaria and chikungunya are already rife, "indicates a bigger catastrophe" than official figures indicate , warns the NGO in a press release.

"What we see in our treatment center is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the number of infected and dying people in the city," said Caroline Seguin, head of MSF programs. "People arrive at the center too late to be saved, and we know that many others do not come at all," she adds.

The MSF center, the only structure dedicated to Covid-19

MSF says that 173 patients were admitted to its center and at least 68 died in the first two weeks of May.

"Arriving late at the center, many patients suffer from acute respiratory distress syndrome and their chances of survival are limited," said the organization.

>> See: Covid-19 in the war zone, the next wave?

She also finds a large number of carers, including her own staff, among the sick and eight times more burials each day last week.

The MSF center is the only structure dedicated to the coronavirus in southern Yemen. The other local hospitals refuse to accept patients showing symptoms of the disease, due to the lack of protective equipment for their carers.

Shortage of tests

Controlled by separatists claiming independence from the south of the country, Aden did not observe containment. Tests for Covid-19 disease are non-existent, as are quarantine of sick people.

MSF's figures are higher than those provided by the government, which lacks tests to accurately assess the extent of the pandemic.

"But if the exact number of cases cannot be known, there is no doubt that it is indeed the Covid-19 epidemic which is causing such an increase in mortality," said the NGO.

Yemen has been plagued by a deadly war since 2014 between the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who control several regions of the country, including the capital Sanaa, and the government supported by the Saudi-led coalition from 2015 .

This conflict has caused the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations, and has caused the collapse of local health infrastructure.

With AFP

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