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Empowering Yemen’s Healthcare Workforce

WHO predicts a health worker shortage of 18 million by 2030. What can be done in a country like Yemen to both educate new health care workers, but also ensure existing ones have access to continuous training and career development opportunities?

The lack of health care workers in Yemen has exacerbated the humanitarian emergency, forcing millions of people to go without the care they need.  Yemen is facing the COVID-19 pandemic with a healthcare system that has been hollowed out by years of conflict, greatly reducing its ranks of medical practitioners. With just 10 healthcare workers per 10,000 people, Yemen is well below the international standard of 41 per 10,000. Furthermore, the current public and private medical and paramedical institutes recruit a small number of students and residents, for example, Taiz University that include the sole faculty of medicine for Taiz governorate that has a population of 3,059,408 (12.2% of Yemeni population),  enroll only 60 students for the Bachelor Degree in Medicine and Surgery, that absolutely will not suffice the work market and the humanitarian crisis.

YAH intends to deliver state-of-the-art medical care under complex conditions and is committed to educational activities in the health professions. Later on, YAH will be affiliated with medical schools and will include postgraduate programs in various specialties. These will not only increase the quality of medical care, but also the quantity of health care professionals. For job-seeking Yemenis, however, the unmet demand for health professionals offers a promising employment opportunity—especially for women—if they can access the training they need to succeed.