New health survey will guide hospital planning, improve epid

New health survey will guide hospital planning, improve epidemiological studies






This level of medical care is out of reach for most Yemenis.Yemeni people dwelling in rural and remote areas of the country still suffer from the lack of any available medical care, according to a new survey by the Ministry of Public Health and Population. Most live far from hospitals, which tend to cluster in cities. This is no small problem, given that 70 percent of Yemenis live in rural areas. The two-year survey was a comprehensive accounting of all public and private health utilities in the country.

It concluded with a recent ceremony attended by donor organizations, diplomats, and workers in the field survey from all governorates. Five hundred workers from the Ministry of Public Health and Population participated in the survey. All of Yemen’s hospitals are located in cities, except for some clinics in some districts in the Raima governorate and in the al-Hasha district in the al-Dhali governorate, according to the new survey. And these clinics are often far away from the populations that need them. This is the main reason so many women die in childbirth in Yemen. The information compiled by the survey will help the country better plan where to put new medical centers, so that they are accessible to people, said Abdullah Ali al-Ashwal, the executive director of the survey.

The survey also provides detailed data on Yemeni family members that will be used to create a regional database on family health and productive health. Ministry officials refused to release the results of this part of the survey. The information that was gathered will help to identify the prevalence of chronic diseases and how quickly they spread. It will also provide health demographic and social indicators that can serve as a basis for future development. The information will also allow experts to compare Yemen’s health statistics with those of other Arab countries. The information will raise awareness among members of the community about issues related to family health through diagnosis of the problems and challenges, and to help in proposing solutions and develop plans and programs to address these problems.

According to the survey, there are a total of 2,588 health units working in the Republic of Yemen. Among those are only 229 hospitals, 741 health centers, 60 motherhood and childhood centers, and 49 dental centers. Only 186 of the hospitals are actually working, and 10 of the hospitals only work for limited hours. Some 26 hospitals are still under construction, and seven have been built, but not yet working. In the public sector there are 565 working health centers; 54 more that work only part-time; two that are closed; 23 that are temporarily closed; 67 under construction; and 30 that are not yet operational.

The 60 motherhood centers include 51 working centers and one part-time center, plus one center temporarily closed and three under construction. There are some 2,587 health units in the public sector, including the 1,974 working health units, 72 partially working units, 31 closed health units, 230 temporarily closed units, 173 still under construction, and 110 that are not operational. There are about 46 other specialized units. Two are partially working, eight are under construction and two are not operational.

The health cadre available in the government sectors includes 979 male specialists and 399 female specialists. Foreign workers in the public sector amounted to 326 male specialists at the rate of 24.9 percent and 106 female specialists at the rate of 20.9 percent. Specialized cadres in the public sector include 1,308 male workers and 506 female workers. There are 2,102 male workers in the public medicine cadre, and 892 female workers, including foreigners, volunteers, and Yemenis. Some 279 men and 106 women work in the field of dentistry. The pharmacist cadre includes 986 males and 249 females.

Laboratories employ 553 males and 294 females. Assistants include 1,666 males and 88 females. As for the nurses, some 6,012 are males and 3,827 are female. All 3,296 of the country’s midwives are female. Technicians working in the public sector include 3,242 males and 608 females. Health conductors include 795 males and 1,345 females. The Yemeni health cadre in the public sector overall includes 11,812 women and 22, 772 men. The private sector, in contrast, includes a total of 147 working hospitals and 312 private clinics.

Medical cadre in the private sector encompasses 703 foreign men and 731 women. The Yemeni cadre includes 2,984 women and 6,975 men. These figures, it is hoped, will help guide further development of hospitals and healthcare throughout the country.