Search
Close this search box.

Country action

Yemen

©UNFPA.

Every Woman Every Newborn in Yemen

Download the full profile with additional key demographics, progress against milestones, and more.

©UNFPA.

Aisha is in the health center with Dr. Zinah’s clinic in Aden, undertaking a prenatal check up in February 2022..

National mortality targets

Maternal
mortality ratio

200 per 100,000 live births
by 2025

Stillbirth
rate

No data

Neonatal mortality rate

27 per 1,000 live births
by 2025

Progress to meet the national maternal, newborn mortality and stillbirth reduction targets

©UNFPA.  Health worker, Aydah Mohamed, taking care of neonatal babies in the neonatal department in Al Shaab Hospital in Aden, Yemen in 2022.

Progress to meet Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere coverage targets

MNH Acceleration Plan highlights

  • A national maternal and newborn health strategy and the midwifery strategy are developed and have costed action plans listing the human resources, medicines, equipent etc., required for their implementation.
  • The national set of maternal and newborn health indicators will be reviewed and updated in 2025.
  • Access to quality maternal and neonatal care services for low resources populations is improving through: scale up of performance-based finance programmes, including voucher programmes, support to critical emergency obstetrics and newborn care hospitals to provide free of charge health services to mothers with complications and sick newborns.
  • Service coverage is increasing in hard-to-reach areas through community-based services: deployment of maternal and newborn mobile teams quarterly, based in remote areas; dialogue with community on establishing transport means in hard to reach areas. The community primary health care strategy is under development.
  • RH-IMS was updated to facility and community levels to help count every mother and newborn.
  • Maternal and newborn health lifesaving medicines and family planning commodities are integrated in the LMIS.  
  • Two additional obstetric fistula management units are planned. 

©UNFPA.
A health worker is checking on the health of the neonatal babies in the neonatal department in Al Shaab Hospital in Aden, Yemen in February 2022.

©UNFPA.
A health worker is checking on the health of the neonatal babies in the neonatal department in Al Shaab Hospital in Aden, Yemen in February 2022.

Quality of care in Yemen (common to South and North)

As part of its efforts to reduce maternal and newborn mortality and stillbirths, Yemen is taking steps to improve the quality of maternal and newborn health. Yemen’s successes include:

  • Set quality criteria for the delivery of healthcare services to newborns, at each level of health system (Community, PHC, BEmOC and CEmONC).
  • Developed a quality improvement programme in all selected health facilities according to standards.
  • Provided in-service training for midwives and dcotors on all MNH Guidelines (EmONC, CBMNC, FP, KMC, ENC, Referral, etc,.
  • Strengthened the capacity of health facilities to provide  EmONC services.
  • Procured and distributed essential equipment, and procured lifesaving EmONC drugs and contraceptives, and distributed them to health facilities. 
  • Strengthened the capacity of Neonatal Care Units at selected referral hospitals through the provision of equipment and lifesaving drugs.
  • Strengthened maternal and newborn death surveillance system; activated the MPNDSR at facility level and developed the MPNDSR at community level.
  • Rolled out a pilot to advocate for the development of the MPNDSR.
  • Developing a communication and advocacy plan as part of the national MNH strategy to improve the maternal and newborn health-related family practices, with a special focus on improving breastfeeding practices.
  • Identifying focal persons among influential leaders to advocate for MCH.
  • Conducted an annual advocacy campaign for MNCH care with the slogan“ Together for Saving Mothers’ and Children’ Lives’.

News and events

Resources

Guidance on developing national learning health-care systems to sustain and scale up delivery of quality maternal, newborn and child health care

Improving the quality of care for maternal, newborn and child health: implementation guide for national, district and facility levels

This implementation guide provides practical guidance for policy makers, programme managers, health practitioners and other actors working to establish and implement quality of care (QoC) programmes for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) at national, district and facility level.

Integrating stakeholder and community engagement in quality of care initiatives for maternal, newborn and child health

This module aims to make stakeholder and community engagement an integral part of quality improvement initiatives and suggests approaches to make stakeholder and community engagement comprehensive and meaningful.