SANAA, 6 September 2009 - Huda Omar, 30, fled war-torn Somalia by boat in 2006 to Oman, where she spent more than two and a half years before paying traffickers to smuggle her to Yemen.

Total population: 21,732,000

Gross national income per capita (PPP international $): 2,090

Life expectancy at birth m/f (years): 59/62

Healthy life expectancy at birth m/f (years, 2003): 48/51

Probability of dying under five (per 1 000 live births): 100

Probability of dying between 15 and 60 years m/f (per 1 000 population): 282/217

Total expenditure on health per capita (Intl $, 2006): 82

Total expenditure on health as % of GDP (2006): 4.6

Since 1990, when North and South Yemen unified, the country has had to deal with the merging of two different political and administrative systems, the effects of the Gulf war, and the impact of the 1994 civil war. Traditionally, North Yemen has been a very closed society with very little contact with the outside world and where education was confined only to religious schools. It is only during the last two to three decades that educational opportunities have been made available and enrolment in basic education has increased significantly. With the unification of North and South Yemen, the fight against poverty is the main theme of Government's poverty policy for the years to come and the need to improve the situation of children and women is emphasized.

Yemen is considered a haven for thousands of people fleeing from war and poverty in the Horn of Africa, but is affected by its own internal tensions. Since June 2004, a conflict in the governorate of Saada (northwest of Yemen, near the border with Saudi Arabia) is believed to have killed more than 9,000 and injured about 20,000 people. A local group called the Al Houthis, opposes government troops. Five periods of high-intensity fighting have erupted since 2004. The 'Fifth War' took place from May to July 2008. Meanwhile the number of refugees coming from Somalia and Ethiopia, risking their lives crossing the Gulf of Aden, continued to increase in 2008.

What MedCorp is doing in Yemen:

Assisting refugees from the Horn of Africa

In the south of the country, in the Abyan and Shabwah governorates, MedCorp has been providing support to migrants coming from the Horn of Africa across the Gulf of Aden since September 2007. In 2008, according to figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 50,000 people fleeing from war, persecution and hunger in Somalia and Ethiopia made the perilous journey in smugglers' boats, hoping to reach Yemen. Almost 950 died in the attempt.

MedCorp provides medical and humanitarian assistance to the refugees when they arrive. A mobile team attends to those in most urgent need on the shore before they are transferred with other new arrivals to a reception centre in the city of Ahwar. Refugees stay here for a few days to be registered. MedCorp has set up a health centre where medical assistance is available to everyone and vulnerable groups (women and children) are especially encouraged to attend consultation and undergo screenings and vaccination. In 2008, the MedCorp team in Ahwar helped almost 13,000 people.