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June 03, 2020 The impact of the coronavirus pandemic in Yemen is likely in the coming weeks and months to bring the country literally to the brink of collapse. The health impact is potentially devastating: there are already almost 400 cases and over 80 victims to date, with the infection that has already officially reached 10 out of 22 governorates, but may have already spread to almost the whole country and increase exponentially in the coming weeks. This in the face of the almost total lack of tests and prevention tools not only among the population, but also in the few health facilities in operation: doctors and nurses in the front line do not have masks, gloves, oxygen for intensive care, half of the hospitals it has been destroyed for 5 and a half years of war, the few structures in operation are already saturated and in several cases patients with high fever and respiratory crisis cannot be cured.

Equally serious is the impact on an economy already on its knees: remittances from Yemeni refugees from abroad collapsed by 80% in at least 6 areas of Yemen, from January to April, due to the lockdown in many countries. Remittances on which the survival of 1 out of 10 Yemeni depend and which in 2019 amounted to 3.8 billion dollars, equal to 13% of GDP.

This is what Oxfam denounces, in the aftermath of the International Conference on the crisis, which once again saw donor countries turn away. In fact, the United Nations' call for a humanitarian response for 2020 is currently financed only for just over a third of what is necessary to prevent a real humanitarian disaster. From yesterday's summit, a commitment of just $ 1.3 billion in aid came out of the $ 3.4 billion needed to save hundreds of thousands of lives in the coming months. The United Nations on the eve expected to reach at least $ 2.4 billion in aid. 

Oxfam's response to the pandemic in Yemen
Since the outbreak of the first coronavirus outbreaks in the country, Oxfam - which since 2015 has already brought water and sanitation to over 3 million Yemenis in refugee camps and areas most affected by the conflict - is immediately intervened to face the pandemic alongside the most vulnerable communities. He is currently working to rehabilitate the water supply in one of the main hospitals in Aden and is training volunteers and health personnel to raise awareness of the population about the correct rules of prevention of contagion, with the aim of reaching the widest population segment.