The ongoing humanitarian crisis has heavily imapcted the lives of families in Hajjah, a governorate in northern Yemen. The UN estimates that over 2 million people in Hajjah are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. With an economy on the brink of collapse and ongoing security concerns many families are displaced from their homes and are struggling to access the basics they need to survive. Heartbreakingly, as a result, many children suffer from severe acute malnutrition.
Hajjah has many hard-to-reach areas making the delivery of aid to families in need extremely difficult. The rotating medical teams were able to reach this twelve month old baby with life saving treatment. She was brought by a community health volunteer CHV and her mother to a medical team in Bakil Almir district, after the CHV discovered her during a house-to-house visit.
The CHV discovered her mother was anaemic and after not receiving any antenatal care, had stopped breastfeeding her daughter. The baby girl was immediately examined by a rotating health worker and registered into the outpatient treatment programme OTP. The little girl showed signs of severe wasting and respiratory disease, weighing only 6 kilograms. She was also diagnosed with pneumonia. Unfortunately, cases like this are tragically common in the region.
To address the catastrophic need for life-saving health and nutrition services, Relief International has implemented an integrated health and nutrition project in six rural and hard-to-reach districts of the governorate. The baby girl was immediately started on treatment. After 10 weeks she had gained weight and fully recovered. In Hajjah all families receiving care in this programme get these vital kits.
She is now tasked with helping to spread awareness in the community about malnutrition and recommend children under 2 receive check-ups with community health volunteers in the district. Despite the ongoing challenges brought by the conflict, these simple interventions continue to save lives. UNICEF with it's partners are working with the authorities to keep systems going and empowering communities to prevent the spread of disease.
