Yemen health services face collapse risk as funding falls
Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh says 19.3 million people need assistance, while the response has received 17 per cent of required funding.
Yemen’s health minister has warned that services could collapse in some areas if funding continues to decline and conflict-related displacement adds pressure to already strained facilities. Qasim Buhaibeh told Al Jazeera that shortages of medicines, supplies and fuel have forced some health facilities to close.
He said emergency care, maternal and child health, vaccination, nutrition, dialysis and cancer treatment are at risk. Health data updated through June 2026 show 19.3 million people need assistance, while the response has received 17 per cent of the required funding, according to figures cited by the minister.
Buhaibeh estimated that fewer than half of health facilities are operating at full capacity. He contrasted that with a World Health Organization figure of 60 per cent; the estimates may differ in timing or method.
The minister cited 134,550 people displaced between June and 22 September, most in Taiz, Lahij and Aden. He said the influx is adding pressure to facilities with limited resources. Separately, the International Organization for Migration reported nearly 130,000 people displaced across seven governorates since fighting escalated in early September.
Buhaibeh said health data reporting from Houthi-controlled areas has been suspended for nearly a year, limiting the nationwide picture. He also warned that displacement, malnutrition and low vaccination coverage are coinciding with cholera, measles and polio outbreaks. He cited more than 27,000 confirmed measles cases in 2025 and chronic malnutrition among about half of children under five.
