3 February 2020, Sana’a/Amman — The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Lise Grande and the World Health Organization Representative for Yemen, Altaf Musani, welcomed today the launch of the medical air bridge operation that brought the first group of Yemeni patients in need of specialized medical assistance from Yemen to Jordan.

Today was the maiden voyage of the medical air bridge operation that brought a number of patients out of an initial group of 30 along with their respective travel companions from Sanaa to Amman. The remaining of the first group of 30 patients will travel in a second flight while more patients will follow on subsequent flights. The World Health Organization in collaboration with the local public health and population authorities coordinated these flights. The medical air bridge flights come as part of the United Nations’ ongoing humanitarian assistance in Yemen including providing support to the health care system.

The United Nations is grateful to the host countries, Egypt and Jordan but also to Saudi Arabia for their efforts in this humanitarian measure. The collaboration and commitment of both the Government of Yemen and Sana’a authorities made this operation possible.

Many United Nations entities and several governments in the Region and around the world collaborated to get these patients the treatment they need abroad, and we are grateful to them all. The United Nations will do what it can to ensure the continuation of the medical air bridge as a temporary solution to reduce the suffering of the Yemeni people until a more sustainable solution is reached in the near future.

For more infomation:

World Health Organization: Christine Cool, coolc@who.int (Yemen), Inas Hamam, hamami@who.int (Cairo), Tarik Jasarevic, jasarevict@who.int (HQ)

Office of the Special Envoy for Yemen: Mayy El Sheikh, mayy.elsheikh@un.org and Ismini Palla, palla@un.org

Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen: Tapiwa Gomo, gomo@un.org