RIYADH: A new shipment of medicines and medical supplies from Saudi Arabia has been delivered to Yemen.
The aid will strengthen health facilities’ preparedness for emergencies, as well as ensure the continuity of medical care and treatment.
Saudi aid agency KSrelief said on Monday: “Six relief trucks carrying medicines and medical supplies provided by the Saudi Aid Agency King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center have arrived in Aden Governorate, Yemen, to support the Yemeni healthcare sector and enhance the capacity of its facilities to serve patients.”
The shipment is part of ongoing humanitarian and relief efforts to strengthen the capacity of Yemeni healthcare facilities to meet patients’ needs, it added. Last week, KSrelief delivered medicines to Yemen’s Ministry of Health and recently supplied drinking water to more than 2,000 displaced people from 300 families at Al-Firdaws Camp 2 in the Aden governorate.
The water was delivered to six distribution points at the camp in Al-Buraiqah district as part of an emergency project. The operation was part of Saudi Arabia’s wider humanitarian efforts to improve living conditions for people across Yemen.
According to its own figures, KSrelief has implemented 58 water, sanitation and hygiene projects in the country worth about $246 million. These were among more than 1,200 projects valued at $4.8 billion that the agency has carried out in the country since its establishment in 2015.
Meanwhile, Project Masam, a Saudi humanitarian landmine clearance initiative to rid Yemen of unexploded ordnance and landmines, continues work unabated. Despite intensified military operation in Yemen, teams have cleared 4,474 landmines and other explosive threats across Yemen during the first four reporting weeks of October.
A statement from the project said the October total so far comprised 74 anti-personnel mines, 168 anti-tank mines, 4,210 items of unexploded ordnance and 22 improvised explosive devices. In the week from Oct. 17-23 alone, Masam cleared 932 explosive threats, including 62 anti-tank mines, 854 UXOs and 16 IEDs, across 188,946 sq. meters.
The latest figures come as Project Masam continues operating despite significant security-related movement restrictions in parts of Yemen. In Midi, northern Hajjah, teams are working on rotation because of the current security situation, while mechanical clearance operations have been suspended.
The diversity of items cleared during October reflects the complex explosive threat facing communities across Yemen, where anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, UXO and IEDs can coexist. Each requires different survey, clearance and disposal responses.
Project Masam’s demining, explosive ordnance disposal, special tasks and emergency response teams continue responding to reported hazards and carrying out clearance wherever conditions allow.
Since operations began in 2018, the initiative has cleared 597,963 explosive threats, including 7,809 anti-personnel mines, 153,275 anti-tank mines, 428,170 UXOs and 8,709 IEDs.