In 2014, a civil war broke out in Yemen, a country in the Middle East. Infrastructure in Yemen was already poor and underdeveloped prior to the civil war but has gotten worse since the war began. Due to a large fuel shortage, health services and water supplies were among the resources that were about to collapse only a year after the war began.

In 2016, out of the 3,652 facilities that provided vaccinations, 900 of them were no longer operating. The shutdown of these facilities took a toll on infrastructure in Yemen, leaving 2.6 million children at a higher risk of catching measles.

Lack of Water

The health of Yemeni people is at further risk because of the increased difficulty in accessing water. Many explosions in early 2016 left a water desalination plant close to Al-Mokha with a lot of damage. Over a million people in Taiz, a nearby city, no longer had access to their only dependable source of water.

Even Yemen’s capital city of Sana’a lacks piped water, though the city was known to experience water shortages prior to the war. This lack of resources causes water prices to increase in most areas. The exceptions are places such as Saada City, where the corporation of water is supported by the ICRC and the U.N.

In an effort to address the country’s issues with water, a new drilling technique was introduced to supply more water to meet the demand. The technique, however, caused too much water to be taken from Yemen’s aquifers, thus making water more scarce and expensive. The increase in water prices was also partially caused by increased petrol prices, which sparked protests in 2014.

Issues with Transportation

Given that it is one of the driest countries in the Middle East, Yemen’s lack of water is a pressing concern. However, the country experiences many other issues in its infrastructure. Only 4,785 miles of the 41,634 miles of road in Yemen are paved. The transportation situation has only worsened since the beginning of the civil war, during which many of the country’s key bridges have been bombed.

Overall, the war has caused almost $7 billion of damage to infrastructure in Yemen. This cost rises to over $14 billion when including the damage to the country’s economy.

Progress in Infrastructure

In an effort to help fix the country’s infrastructure, in February 2017, the U.N. began working on providing $2.1 billion in aid to Yemen. Additionally, a fund of $20 million has been devoted to the Financial Infrastructure Project in Yemen, which began in 2013 and closed in 2017. The project was coordinated by the World Bank, and they set even more goals for infrastructure in Yemen that they aim to complete by 2019. By focusing on meeting these goals, crucial infrastructure can be restored to the Yemenis who need it most.

– Haley Rogers

Photo: Flickr