Mid-wife reignites livelihood hopes for a conflict-scarred family

Women shoulder much of the fallout of Yemen’s conflict

March 7, 2020

Noor's clinic has expanded to provide obstetric care and sees an average of one birth each day.

Fifty-year-old Noor Abdullah, who worked as a midwife for the past 35 years, is no exception to the fallout of the conflict. She supports her mother, her sister (and her two children), and the children of her deceased brother. Hers is the story of a conflict-affected woman having to shoulder family responsibilities and step into the role of being the main provider.  

Five years ago, Noor opened a private midwifery clinic; business was booming until the conflict broke out. A sudden loss of business meant she was unable to pay for her family’s basic needs, let alone produce rent for her home and clinic. 

For three years, the doors of Noor’s clinic remained closed.

Recently, thanks to a financial grant she received from the Social Fund for Development’s funded and supported National Microfinance Foundation (NMF) and the Yemen Microfinance Network (YMN), Noor was able to re-employ a nurse and rent an apartment in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. She is now able to provide for her entire family.

The support restored Noor’s hope for the future and gave her the confidence to expand her clinic to provide outreach services to women who are vulnerable, like she was.   

The clinic has since expanded to provide obstetric care and sees an average of one birth each day. Noor also consults her patients on breastfeeding, reproductive health, hygiene, and nutrition for children and pregnant women, as well as the importance of spacing births.

Noor looks forward to obtaining more funding support, so that she can turn her clinic into a charity health center for the community – providing more services to patients, especially those who are poor and displaced and cannot afford to pay for delivery and medical expenses.
 

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Funded and supported by the World Bank, the Yemen Emergency Crisis Response Project (YECRP) is implemented by the Social Fund for Development (SFD) and the Public Works Project (PWP) in partnership with UNDP. The USD $400 million project provides economic stimuli in the form of large cash-for-work projects, support to small businesses, and labor-intensive repairs of socio-economic assets, benefiting vulnerable local households and communities across Yemen.