Yemen’s Minister of Public Health and Population, Qasim Buhaibah, warned that continued funding cuts could lead to the complete loss of health services in some areas, as the sector faces mounting pressure from waves of displacement linked to the military escalation. He said the health system’s capacity to receive additional displaced people was not unlimited.
Facility closures and medicine shortages threaten emergency services
Speaking to journalists in Aden, Buhaibah said a lack of resources had forced health facilities to close and caused shortages of medicines, supplies and fuel. He said the decline was putting emergency services and maternal and child health at particular risk, as well as immunisation and nutrition programmes, dialysis services and cancer treatment.
Buhaibah compared his estimate with a figure of around 60% cited by the World Health Organisation in an assessment published at the beginning of the year. Against the backdrop of the escalation on the western coast, he said 134,550 people had been displaced from June to 22 September, with most concentrated in the governorates of Taiz, Lahj and Aden. He said the influx had intensified pressure on health facilities that were already suffering from limited resources.
Displacement and epidemics increase risks to children
He warned that displacement, malnutrition and low immunisation levels, combined with outbreaks of cholera, measles and polio, were increasing the health risks facing the population, particularly children. The minister said more than 27,000 confirmed measles cases had been recorded during 2025, adding that around half of Yemen’s children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition.
This comes as prevention, nutrition and immunisation programmes face shortages of funding and the resources needed to maintain their services. Regarding patients with cancer, kidney failure and thalassaemia, Buhaibah said declining funding could gradually lead to interruptions in treatment sessions, medicines and tests. He revealed that out-of-pocket payments made by citizens for healthcare account for more than half of total health spending in Yemen.
Data gaps hamper national health planning
He added that the submission of health data from areas controlled by Ansar Allah, known as the Houthis, had been suspended for nearly a year, preventing a complete national epidemiological picture from being compiled. He also said the Health Fund, which the ministry hopes will help finance services, was still completing its regulations, structure and management mechanisms.
Buhaibah identified three main threats for the coming period: the consequences of emergencies and displacement resulting from the escalation; the continuation of epidemics and the decline of basic services; and the erosion of the health system’s own ability to continue operating.
He stressed that the sector’s survival after years of war and crises did not mean its capacity to withstand pressure was unlimited, calling for the remaining services to be protected and for more sustainable funding to be secured for facilities and programmes.
The displacement crisis is worsening as fighting between government forces and the Houthis intensifies, forcing thousands of families to flee in search of safety. The International Organisation for Migration said more than 134,000 people had been displaced since the latest escalation in fighting, noting that most displacement took place between 1 August and 22 September 2026.
