Yemen is experiencing a severe medical humanitarian crisis, exacerbated by deep cuts in international funding. In 2025, the country was also affected by military escalations, including some linked to the Gaza–Israel war.
The closure of health facilities across the country has had devastating consequences for communities already facing immense adversity. As funding shortfalls and ongoing insecurity forced clinics and hospitals to scale down operations or close altogether, millions of people were left with little or no access to essential services, such as maternal care, vaccinations, emergency surgery, and treatment for chronic diseases. The facilities that continue to function are overwhelmed with patients, and struggle to provide adequate care due to shortages of medicines and staff. This growing strain on the healthcare system is putting more lives at risk.
Increasing pressure on humanitarian operations and growing access constraints limited the ability to deliver care at scale, particularly in the north of the country. As humanitarian capacity declined, fewer services remained available for communities, placing additional strain on MSF‑supported facilities and underscoring the widening gaps in the overall response.
MSF operated in 12 hospitals and 9 health facilities across 11 governorates, delivering a range of medical services, including emergency care, maternal and paediatric services, nutritional support, and specialised surgery. Our teams also supported emergency responses to an outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea, and treated people injured in airstrikes in Yemen during regional military escalations linked to the Gaza–Israel war.
Malnutrition care
In 2025, health facilities in Yemen were increasingly overwhelmed by the numbers of malnourished children, as soaring prices and suspensions and reductions in food assistance programmes limited the availability of nutritious food for families. Facilities where we work in Yemen, including Abs hospital in Hajjah governorate, recorded an increase in malnutrition cases, aggravated by gaps in healthcare and vaccination coverage. At Al-Salam hospital in Amran governorate, where we also work, rising malnutrition cases coincided with shrinking international funding and inadequate therapeutic food supplies. Despite these constraints, our teams expanded inpatient capacity from 30 to 81 beds, and continued treating children with moderate acute malnutrition. Our team also operates a large inpatient therapeutic feeding centre in Ad-Dahi, which has a 103-bed capacity.
In Haydan hospital, Sa’ada governorate, the number of children we treated for severe acute malnutrition in the inpatient therapeutic feeding centre increased significantly during the third quarter of the year, reflecting growing needs and the reduced availability of treatment for malnutrition due to aid cuts.
Maternal and child healthcare
Maternal and child healthcare remains a central component of our activities in Yemen. In 2025, we ran comprehensive maternal, neonatal, and paediatric services, comprising inpatient and outpatient care, ante- and postnatal consultations, and assistance with deliveries, including caesarean sections.
At Abs Hospital, Hajjah governorate, and Al-Salam Hospital in Khamir, Amran governorate, we continued to support maternity, neonatal, and paediatric wards. In Taiz governorate, we increased our maternity capacity to 54 beds within the general hospital in Mocha city, and offered comprehensive maternal, obstetric, and neonatal care. We also worked in the inpatient paediatric department of the hospital, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, operating a 72-bed specialised healthcare facility, with an emergency room for children under 12.
In Hodeidah governorate, we ran specialist maternity and neonatal services at Al-Qanawes mother and child hospital. We also provided paediatric and neonatal care for rural communities in Ad-Dahi district, and in Dhi As-Sufal, Ibb governorate.
At Haydan hospital in Sa’ada governorate, our teams reported an increase in admissions to the maternity room for deliveries, and high demand for paediatric services.
Emergency healthcare
From April 2025, Yemen witnessed a worrying spike in acute watery diarrhoea cases. Years of protracted conflict, crumbling infrastructure, and a lack of access to clean water and sanitation services, compounded by heavy rains, have consistently fuelled the spread of water-borne diseases in the country.
To cope with the surge in cases, MSF opened a 50-bed diarrhoea treatment centre (DTC) in Abs hospital, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. We later expanded this to 75 beds, and opened an additional 20-bed centre in Al-Qanawes. We also worked with the ministry to open a diarrhoea treatment unit in Al-Zuhra district, where most of the patients we treated in Abs hospital came from, and set up seven oral rehydration points (ORPs) in the community.
In addition, we opened a 30-bed DTC at Al-Salam hospital to respond to a growing acute watery diarrhoea outbreak. As the number of patients increased, we boosted capacity to 80 beds, and supported three ORPs across Khamir district. Our teams worked with community health workers to raise awareness of the disease and refer suspected cases to the DTC. In Mafraq Al-Mocha healthcare centre in Taiz, we constructed a two-bed isolation unit and renovated the emergency room, and continued to support emergency and outpatient services. We also supported a 150-bed DTC in Ibb governorate.
Project handovers
In 2025, we handed over some of our long-running medical activities in Yemen, including projects in Ataq city, Shabwa governorate, and Taiz and Marib cities, to the local health authorities. To support continuity after the handovers, we donated six months’ worth of medical supplies, and offered temporary assistance, including water, fuel, food, and staff incentives.
