Key Results
Investments
Key Results

Overview: Yemen is facing a difficult humanitarian situation, hindering the optimal development and implementation of the national HIV response in the country. In 2016, the National AIDS Programme (NAP) was strengthened with support from the UN Joint Team on AIDS (Joint Team), by expanding community outreach activities for HIV prevention, addressing sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV, and training community health workers and community peer educators on HIV prevention.

HIV testing and treatment: During 2016, UNHCR collaborated with the NAP to ensure that refugees have free access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) centres in Yemen. A total of 94 refugees were enrolled in ART centres in Aden and Sana for HIV treatment and follow up and 78 of them received ART drugs. UNHCR also supported a four-day refresher training course about voluntary and counselling testing (VCT), prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and ART for 20 workers in health centres.

Elimination of mother-to-child transmission (eMTCT): In 2016, the NAP and UNHCR worked together to ensure that PMTCT services were available to all pregnant mothers in urban settings and refugee camps and were equal to host populations services. As a result, UNHCR provided PMTCT services to 407 pregnant women and VCT services to 568 individuals.

HIV prevention among young people and key populations: In Yemen, the UN Joint Team worked to scale up access to combination prevention services, thanks to outreach activities. Moreover, male condoms were made available in all Joint Team supported clinical facilities and their distribution and usage promoted. In addition, UNHCR conducted a one-day training for 60 people about HIV/AIDS prevention, giving information about HIV, sexually transmitted infections prevention, condom usage, access to voluntary tests and pre/post-test counselling. 

Gender inequality and gender-based violence (GBV): During the course of 2016, the Joint Team continued providing clinical and psychosocial support to SGBV and rape survivors. For example, a total of 41 rape survivors received post-exposure prophylaxis at UNHCR-supported health centre in Basateen, Kharaz and Sana camps. In collaboration with NAP, UNHCR also provided 20 180 posters in Arabic Somali, Amharic, Tigray and Oromo languages about HIV prevention, including SGBV prevention and SGBV. In collaboration with the Yemeni women’s union and NAP, the Joint Team provided seminars about SGBV awareness to 272 women in Sana’a.

Human rights, stigma and discrimination: The Joint Team advocated on the stigmatization and discrimination against people living with HIV, through a sensitization campaign targeting the directorates of several hospitals in Sana city Governorate (including military hospitals). The UNAIDS Secretariat launched an awareness campaign to reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV in health care settings. UNHCR also conducted workshops with 687 health workers (both in public and private hospitals) and 360 police officers (from the Sana city departments) about stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV.

Investment and efficiency: In 2016, due to the ongoing conflict in Yemen, the country’s traditional medical supply chain broke down. Therefore, WFP and the WFP-led logistics cluster provided supply chain support to UNFPA and PFSCM, the Global Fund’s supply chain partner. WFP supported UNFPA to deliver HIV, medical and reproductive health commodities into the country and airlifted HIV medication on behalf of PFSCM. These deliveries played an important role in ensuring HIV commodities remained available.

Secretariat functions: To better provide essential HIV, tuberculosis and malaria services to the most vulnerable populations, the UNAIDS Secretariat recently launched the Middle East Response initiative in countries affected by humanitarian crisis, including in Yemen, in partnership with the Global Fund. The UNAIDS Secretariat also held a consultation and worked with the Regional Support Team in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), national partners and Cosponsors to support the UNAIDS humanitarian programming initiatives associated with the Syria crisis and the internally displaced populations/refugee issues existing in the surrounding Mashreq countries.