Strengthening the capacity of Yemeni Doctors to tackle Covid-19, online workshop 20th May 2020

Following from an initial workshop organised on the 7th of May, Forward Thinking with the aid of the Order of Malta organised a doctor-to-doctor dialogue on the 20th of May. The meeting brought together health experts from Australia, Ireland, Iran, Italy, Germany and Turkey with Yemeni counterparts to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. Representatives from the WHO were also present on the call.The purpose was to enable doctors to share insights from their work against the virus to date, in order to help inform the Yemeni response. A particular focus was placed on procedures to protect healthcare workers and best practice ontreatments.Over the last two weeks cases of Covid-19 has increased rapidly. There are now 171 confirmed cases within the country, but this is widely accepted to be an underestimate due to limited testing capacity. The WHO believes community transmission is occuring in both the north and south of the country. Yemen is already confronting other viral infections, such as Dengue fever, which make it harder for health experts to identify the presence of Covid-19. Given its limited resources and pre-existing vulnerability, Yemen urgently needs support to help it manage with the pandemic.Forward Thinking, in partnership with the Order of Malta and other health experts in our network are committed to organising further training workshops for Yemeni health workers for as long as there are requests for support.