Yemen: Women Awareness Network held its first defining conference

The Yemen Partners for Health Reform (YPHR) funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) held the First Defining Conference for the Role of Women Associations Network in Community Development on Sunday in Taj Sheba Hotel. It was sponsored by Dr. Abdul-Karim Yahya Ras’a, Minster of Health and Population and Dr. Amah al-Razaq Hummad, Minister of Social Affairs and Labors.

The conference was held to address health system constraints to increase use of population, health and nutrition service and to strengthen health system stewardship and health information system, routine immunization strengthening, community awareness and strengthen the role of midwives.

"The overall objective of our meeting is to define the existence of the Women's Network and what has been done in the provinces of Al-Jawf and Amran," said Abdul-Sallam al-Kohlani, manager of YPHR project. "Thus, there is the possibility of interaction with these organizations and donors who are interested in community work," he added.

Al-Kohlani stated in his speech during the conference that it is no secret to everyone the tremendous efforts undertaken by the Ministry of Health and Population in disease control and eradication of epidemics and the dissemination of health awareness. "But our country has population clusters in remote areas distinguished by its geographical nature of high mountains, arduous passage valleys and wide deserts," which he argued created obstacles for the ministry in getting help to raise awareness for everyone.

Illiteracy rate associated with educational and health awareness makes the task of the health ministry almost impossible, said al-Kohlani. "So to hear the importance of such non-governmental organizations plays a supplemental role to the efforts of the government, which is the guarantor of the effectiveness and continuity of those efforts," he clarified.

He wishes that everyone should join hands together to support the efforts of these women's organizations to grow and to play the role entrusted to them. The head of Women's Network, Amah al-Sallam al-Babli said that this network has been formed to spread awareness in the community to change their incorrect perceptions and to avoid dangers arising from misunderstanding and ignorance.

"Civil society organizations are the main source supplementing the role and efforts of the government. They are the closest to the community, providing services, information and skills which anyone can use to live a better life," she said. "This network was established to unify efforts and strengthen the role of organizations in voluntary work by involving the community, especially women volunteers, for awareness. These volunteers are called Social Activists.

The Social Activists have covered 12,475 homes so far in 8 months as well as literacy centers and women gathering places and schools. They passed out health awareness information every place they got a chance.

"This great success is the role of social awareness activists and the assistance of USAID and the YPHR project for their cooperation in the formation of the network and arrangement of this conference. It is a giant step in defining the network and for its continuity and to make further efforts to serve the largest segment of society," al-Babli said appreciatively.

Dr. Jamilah al-Ra'ei, deputy of Health and Population Ministry, confirmed that USAID provided this project in the health sectors besides several other health projects to ease its continuance with women and society and promotion of voluntary work. "As we know, women have a big role in volunteer work that is still understandably difficult in Yemen," she added.

"The government cannot do all the work, so it resorts to involve civil society organizations to complement these actions," she said. "It has a strong presence in the governorates."

"I hope that the Women's Network has a plan on how to continue and how it can be expanded in other governorates," she said hopefully.

There was a special focus on hearing and speech-disabled children through the Women's Network activities, given their status as an entrenched underclass in society.

During the conference, some beneficiaries presented how the health awareness improved their knowledge of health, one of whom was a 12-year-old child named Mohammed Musa'd from the Hearing and Speech-Disabled Association in Amran province. He explained to the attendees how the network helped him in his understanding of health issues and other areas like first aid awareness.

"We were ignorant of these important things in our lives because we are marginalized in the society, so the network comes and makes us aware of the issues," Musa'ed said. "We really appreciate their work."

Yousra Ahmad, another beneficiary from Amran also told her story of how the network gave her a new sense of health awareness that she did not know before. "I used to refuse every vaccination because there were rumors said that it gives diseases and makes you ill, but after I examined my thoughts, I believe what I was thinking was incorrect thanks to the social awareness activists," she said.

The Social Awareness Network is essentially a group of private associations working together, voluntarily, to raise the health levels of individuals in the community. It intends to reach a large number of women and to use their efforts and resource for voluntary awareness work.