Yemen’s Minister of Information Muammar Al-Eryani warned against the Houthis’ continued restrictions on child immunization programs in the capital of Sanaa and other areas under the militia’s control.
Eryani’s remarks were made in an official statement directed at the repercussions of Iran-backed Houthi practices on the general health of Yemenis living under their control.
He said the restrictions imposed by the Houthis on child vaccination campaigns could lead to the emergence and spread of several epidemic diseases that Yemen had previously been declared free from.
Eryani said that Houthi practices have led to the emergence of hundreds of cases of polio after Yemen was declared free from the disease in 2009.
Polio reappeared in Yemen in 2019 with an infection recorded in the governorate of Saada. In 2020, the minister said, 30 cases were recorded in Saada and one in Sanaa. In 2021, polio spread to other regions, and by mid-2022, 160 cases were detected.
The information minister called on the international community, the United Nations, and the World Health Organization to condemn the practices of the Houthi militia.
He also asked the international bodies to place real pressure on Houthi leaders to lift restrictions on vaccination campaigns so they can be completed in a sound and comprehensive manner.
These vaccination campaigns, according to Eryani, must be carried out in coordination with the Health Ministry in the interim capital Aden.
The internationally recognized government’s Health Ministry, in cooperation with partners, has already staged three vaccination campaigns.
Houthi militias have worked by a doctrine that is always based on apprehension about vaccines against epidemics.
The group’s leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, frequently hints in his speeches that vaccines are the work of conspiracies against Houthis.
It is noteworthy that the health sector in Houthi-controlled areas suffers from a state of complete paralysis, as more than 50 % of the facilities have gone out of service, amid the suspension of salaries for health sector workers.
