this will continue

Last week, several Yemenis experienced a cause for celebration. A medical air bridge, nearly two years in the making, opened up- connecting vulnerable Yemeni citizens plagued by critical, yet treatable, conditions to quality hospitals in the surrounding region. 

The United Nations began talks with the warring parties in Yemen to create the medical air bridge in 2018, which has finally cumulated in action in February 2020. However, many families will mourn that this was not soon enough. During the violent conflict in Yemen, between the rebel Houthis and the former government, which Saudi Arabia and its affiliate countries have championed, civilian welfare has taken a drastic hit.  

The Houthi government closed the country’s primary airport in 2017, and 32,000 Yemenis have died in failed attempts to leave the country and seek medical aid. 

Those sad stories matter little now, for the thirty Yemenis and their families who have presently been transported to neighboring Jordan for treatment. The majority of the 30 passengers - brought over on a total of four flights over the course of the week - are women and children cancer patients between the ages of five and thirteen. “These flights are their last and only hope,” a communication officer from the World Health Organization explained to the press. 

“We are hopeful that this will continue.” 

For now, one thing will certainly continue - the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Of the nearly 30 million people who live in Yemen - each of them impacted by the war - 22.2 million are in need of humanitarian assistance. Eight million are at risk of famine. And ten million are impacted by an outbreak of cholera. 

Sustana Begum, advocacy manager to Yemen from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), has been quoted for saying that in Yemen she sees a “glimmer of hope.” But her main message is one of urgent realism. “These are the lucky few who may be able to [leave], but there are thousands more who are very sick and need to be able to get out. Reopening Sanaa’s airport for a few medical flights won’t address the overall needs in the country or the crumbling health sector.” She urges the warring parties to make peace, so that the suffering of Yemen’s people may be more thoroughly addressed. 

Still, there is unabashedly good news this week. 

Nearly a dozen children will receive quality health care for their life-threatening conditions, and the United Nations and World Health Organizations intend for them to be the first of many. 

The war will continue, and the Yemeni people wonder if true cause for hope will also persist.