FIFTH REPORT - World Health Organization

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN REGION 243
Health) and by a professional officer (the Director of
Health Services). The following divisions come
under the Director of Health Services: preventive
medicine, curative medicine, and administration.
The country is divided into six governorates and 24
districts.
Hospital services
The Al- Joumhouria hospital in Aden, which has
495 beds, is the largest referral hospital in the country.
In 1968 other inpatient facilities in the first governorate
included a private hospital with 130 beds. Whereas
the sixth governorate had no hospital establishment,
the other four governorates had altogether 14
government hospitals with a total bed capacity of
519. Additional inpatient facilities were provided
in 1972 at one mental hospital, six maternity clinics,
one sickness hostel and one old people's home. The
number of hospital beds available in 1971 was estimated
to be 1733.
The outpatient establishments existing in 1972
included four health centres, five dispensaries, and
154 health units.
Medical and allied personnel and training facilities
In 1968 Democratic Yemen had 42 doctors, of
whom 29 were working in the first governorate.
Other health personnel included:
Dentists 5
Dental technicians 18
Pharmacists 2
Dispensers 21
Midwives 14
Registered nurses 28
Graduate nurses 23
Auxiliary nurses in training 637
The Institute of Health Manpower Development
in Aden provides training facilities for the following
health personnel:
.
Category
Duration Number of Number of
and admission
of study students graduates
requirements
(years) 1971/72 1972
Medical assistants :
9 years' general education . 3 46
Dispensers:
6 years' general education . 1''4 24
Pharmacy technicians:
9 years' general education . 3 32
Laboratory assistants:
8 years' general education . 1 % 9
Sanitarians:
9 years' general education . 3 11 11
Nurses:
9 years' general education . 3 29 27
Auxiliary nurses:
6 years' general education . 1 53 38
Midwives:
3 years' basic nursing education 1 7 7
Auxiliary midwives:
6 years' general education . . 1 j 33 14
Communicable disease control
Malaria is widespread, existing throughout the
entire country. However, no detailed malariometric
data are available to determine the prevalence of the
disease. The lack of trained personnel is one of the
main difficulties in carrying out a malaria control
programme. Although tuberculosis prevalence surveys
have not been conducted, the known high infection
rates and the results of clinical examinations strongly
indicate that tuberculosis represents a serious public
health problem. Both urinary and intestinal schistosomiasis
exist in the country. Trachoma is highly
prevalent in the north -east.
Specialized units
In 1972 maternal and child health care was provided
at 33 centres, of which 21 had hospitalization facilities.
Other specialized outpatient establishments included
a school health service unit, a dental clinic, a psychiatric
outpatient clinic, two tuberculosis centres and a
leprosy outpatient clinic.
National health planning
The first national development plan for the years
1971 -1974 gave priority to economic development.
It also gave particular emphasis to rural development
and to the extension of community services, mainly
centred in the first gevernorate, and to the rural
areas of the other five governorates of the country.
The health sector of the national development plan
and the national health plan (1971 -1976) give priority
to the development of health services outside the
first governorate, particularly as regards development
and strengthening of the health infrastructure, communicable
disease control, development of maternal
and child health care, training of health personnel,
and provision of safe water. The number of hospital
beds is to be increased by 30 %. Ten new health
centres will be built and 45 health units will be provided.
Self -help building programmes by the community
will be encouraged. A number of rural
hospitals will be renovated and upgraded, and a
leprosarium will be established in the first governorate.
The budgetary allocation to the health sector in the
national development plan amounts to 751 000 dinars.
Assistance from WHO
In 1972 WHO's assistance to Democratic Yemen
included the following projects :
Tuberculosis control (1971- ) UNICEF: to
implement a comprehensive national tuberculosis
control programme, integrated into the general health
services in the provinces and with a specialized
service at the central level.