Abu Dhabi: The Emirates Red Crescent Society on Thursday announced the launch of three campaigns for Yemen as part of its continued humanitarian support for the country, with the initiatives including sending medical supplies, iftar meals, and clothes.

Since the outbreak of war in Yemen, the Emirates Red Crescent has been one of the main organisations lending humanitarian care to Yemen, and with the recent spread of cholera, the group has partnered with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to prevent the further spread of the disease and to contain it.

“This year we have three campaigns to support Yemen. The first campaign, which is called ‘our heart is with you’ is to provide medical support to protect Yemenis from the outbreak of cholera and other diseases … We are coordinating with the WHO to provide the medicine and vaccinations, and until now we have provided 100,000 vaccinations covering 18 governorates,” said Dr Mohammad Ateeq Al Falahi, secretary-general of the UAE Red Crescent.

“We are also preparing an air bridge to ship more medical supplies to combat the spread of cholera … We have to stop the outbreak of cholera and to get rid of it. We expect that 300,000 people will benefit from this programme,” he added.

Dr Mamunur Rahman Malik, coordinator, health and security regulation at the WHO, said that the organisation in partnership with the Emirates Red Crescent was planning to launch a major vaccination campaign after the month of Ramadan that would cover roughly three million Yemenis.

“Along with the Emirates Red Crescent, we have done a risk assessment identifying the vulnerable populations and the vulnerable areas at risk from cholera. Based on our assessments, we have come up with a plan to vaccinate the at risk population,” he said.

“Our goal is to organise a vaccination campaign after Ramadan, which we will do in batches because you can’t vaccinate three million people in just a few days. As part of the plan, we want to set up outreach health centres and to mobilise the community to come to these health centres so that they can get vaccinated,” he added.

Malik explained that the Emirates Red Crescent would be a critical partner in implementing this programme, as it would be their volunteers and members who would run the health centres on the ground.

“The Emirates Red Crescent are our only partners on the ground, their support is fundamental for the success of this vaccination programme,” he said. “From our side we will provide the technical support, but it will be the volunteers from the Emirates Red Crescent who will implement it, they will organise and set up the health centres, and provide the vaccinations.

“The total costs, including the medical vaccines, the shipment, and other operational procedures, will come to around Dh10 million, and it will take around four weeks to complete the process,” he added.

Al Falahi also said that 170 different types of medicines were sent to Yemen in May to help with other diseases, at a cost of Dh7 million, with 15,000 Yemenis benefiting.

Other campaigns

Speaking on the other two campaigns that will also be launched, Al Falahi said they include providing iftar food packages, and clothes.

“The second campaign we are launching will be for the iftar meals … We are sending 75,600 iftar baskets, and 110 tons of date, 50 tons of sugar, 3,000 blankets, and 1,000 Ghaf trees. The total cost for this campaign will be over Dh18 million dirhams.

“The third campaign, ‘Your children are ours’, will provide new clothes for the children during the Eid holidays,” he added.