Magnussen H.J.1, Abdullah Seif Abdilah H.1, Al Ashwal A.1, Alemad Y.1, Al Tamimi W.1
1International Committee of the Red Cross, Physical Rehabilitation Program, Sanaa, Yemen
Background: Worldwide one billion people have a disability. They often face significant challenges in accessing basic health and rehabilitation services. In Yemen, prevalence of persons with disabilities is uncertain. Estimates of unmet needs do not exist. Rehabilitation services are centralized and often inaccessible to parts of the population. Poor security conditions and lack of service providers are key challenges to access when rehabilitation facilities become non- operational as a consequence of ongoing conflict. This study was undertaken to see how intensification of conflict influences on number of persons seeking rehabilitation services.
Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the number of persons with disabilities attending four physical rehabilitation facilities supported by The International Committee of the Red Cross in Yemen from 2014 to 2016. We also aimed to identify the number of persons with amputations attending such services in the country, a group rarely described in the literature.
Methods: The database of The International Committee of the Red Cross was used to undertake a descriptive analysis of persons who received services from four physical rehabilitation facilities in Yemen from 2014 to 2016.
Results: In 2014, 65 131 persons received services from four physical rehabilitation facilities in Yemen. In 2015 an increased of 3,5 % was seen with a further increase of 9,5 % in 2016. The number of persons with amputations (old and new cases) increased by 10% from 2014 to 2015 and by 4,5 % from 2015 to 2016. For new amputees only, a decrease of 12 % from 2014 to 2015 was observed, followed by an increase of 63 % from 2015 to 2016.
Conclusion(s): The rise in persons attending rehabilitation services in Yemen might be a result of increased needs for services by factors such as conflict where more people are left with a disability. For persons with new amputations, the decrease in 2015 could be attributed to closing of rehabilitation facilities. Consequently, an accumulation of new amputees could explain the following increase in 2016 when some services became available again. Moreover, the 2016 increase might indicate that there are more persons with amputations as a consequence of the conflict and that getting a first prosthesis is a priority even though accessibility is challenged. For amputees who already have a prosthesis, seeking services might to a larger extent have been put on hold. Further studies are needed to look into barriers to access to better understand to what extent and how conflict plays a role. Moreover, the effect of conflict not only on causing disabilities but also on the influence on vulnerability of persons with disabilities should be investigated.
Implications: This study adds to limited existing knowledge about access to rehabilitation services in Yemen. It highlights the rise in number of service users despite intensified conflict and adjacent difficult access. Increasing levels of insecurity as a result of conflict influences on access and service provision and suggests that the number of persons in need are high with further rise in demand expected when the level of conflict decrease and access improves.
Funding acknowledgements: None
Topic: Disability & rehabilitation
Ethics approval: The database of The International Committe of the Red Cross is used, and as such, ethics approval was not obtained.
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
