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HEALTH-VIRUS-YEMEN-CONFLICT-LEAD
Yemeni women rush to sew masks in face of virus peril
SANAA, March 18, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – More than a decade after it closed, 20
Yemeni women have revived the war-torn country’s oldest factory to make face
masks in anticipation of an outbreak of the new coronavirus.
The situation is especially fraught because Yemen’s health system has all
but collapsed following years of conflict.
In the factory in the capital Sanaa, rows of desks line a cavernous hall
with women in black niqab and white gloves hunched over sewing machines
meticulously assembling medical masks.
For them, the situation feels like a race against time to prepare for the
kind of outbreak that is already stretching wealthy, stable countries to the
limit.
“We have been working on the masks since Monday and, thank God, we started
working on them before the disease reaches us as a precautionary measure,
without the need to import from outside,” mask maker Faten al-Masoudi told
AFP.
“I am willing to work here for free for the health of our children,
infants and women,” added Masoudi who, like all the women, does not receive a
regular salary but is paid per mask.
In another section, one women sanitised plastic bags as another filled
them with masks.
Yemen, ravaged by an ongoing war described by the United Nations as the
world’s worst humanitarian crisis, has not yet registered any COVID-19 cases.
Unlike neighbouring Gulf countries, Yemen has not taken drastic measures
to prevent the virus’ spread, but is also less vulnerable to imported virus
cases, with swathes of the country under siege and air links severely
curtailed.
The women have nonetheless stepped up to help. Fighting between the Saudi-
backed government and the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels has crippled the economy
and healthcare system, making their intervention especially timely.
– Run-down mill –
The storied Chinese-designed factory opened in 1967 producing cotton, which
was a major contributor to Yemen’s economy in the 1970s, making garments
including army uniforms before shuttering in 2005.
Parts of the complex have been damaged in airstrikes while others have
become dilapidated.
Abdullah Shaiban, the factory’s chairman, hopes the crisis preparations
will see the site achieve its “full potential”.
“There is a great demand for this kind of mask, which people use to
protect their health,” he told AFP.
“We transformed a section of the sewing department that manufactures
clothes into one that produces masks.”
He was hopeful that with 80 machines, the plant could make 8,000 to 10,000
masks daily.
Another factory in Sanaa is now manufacturing hand sanitiser.
– ‘Viruses don’t respect borders’ –
The World Health Organization confirmed Tuesday there were no registered
cases in Yemen.
It said it was working with authorities in Sanaa and the southern city of
Aden — where the government has been based after the rebels seized control
of the capital in 2014 — to screen people entering the country.
“The virus does not respect borders,” said Yemen’s WHO representative
Altaf Musani.
“There is a shortfall in the number of tests… we’re about to increase…
testing capability.”
Musani added the WHO had distributed protective kit, including masks and
gloves, but not “nearly enough”, and was working to get more.
Back at the factory, Shaiban said some opportunistic market traders had
hiked imported mask prices to a level unrealistic for ordinary Yemenis.
“This is not something we accept,” Shaiban said. “There must be an
ethical, moral, religious and humane approach.”
Millions are struggling to survive without aid and three million are
displaced, many in camps especially vulnerable to diseases like COVID-19.
In Sanaa, the Iran-backed Huthi insurgents who control the capital and
large parts of the north have suspended school classes as cases in nearby
countries soar.
Nearly 1,000 cases have been recorded across the six Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) nations — mostly among those returning from Iran where nearly
1,000 people have died.
“We have stood firm against war and we will stand firm against this
disease,” Abdulbasit al-Gharbani, the factory’s sewing director, told AFP.
“To beat it, we must stand together.”
BSS/AFP/RY/16:52 hrs