Aid agencies raise funds for kidney facilities in Yemen

By Zeynep Hilal Karyagdi

SANAA

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Doctors without Borders on Tuesday organized an event in Yemen’s capital aimed at raising funds for badly needed kidney-treatment facilities.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Adnan Huzam, the ICRC’s spokesman in Yemen, said such facilities were needed for roughly 4,400 Yemenis at risk of kidney failure.

Calling on local and international aid organizations to provide Yemen with needed medicine and medical staff, Huzam lamented that numerous local health personnel had not received salaries for over a year and a half.

According to the ICRC spokesman, a number of kidney-treatment centers in Yemen have been closed as a direct result of the ongoing conflict between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government and Shia Houthi rebels.

Only 28 such facilities, he said, most of which continue to struggle with chronic personnel shortages, remain functional.

“The ICRC has only been able to help five of these facilities,” Huzam said.

“While our main focus is on violence-related injuries, we are doing our utmost for those suffering serious kidney problems,” he added.

Yemen has been wracked by chaos since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.

Impoverished Yemen is also grappling with a nationwide cholera epidemic that has left hundreds dead in recent months.