The National Health Cluster in Yemen: assessing the coordination of health response during humanitarian crises

Sameh Al-Awlaqi; Fekri Dureab; Marzena Tambor

doi:10.1186/s41018-022-00117-y

The National Health Cluster in Yemen: assessing the coordination of health response during humanitarian crises

J Int Humanit Action. 2022;7(1):9. doi: 10.1186/s41018-022-00117-y. Epub 2022 Mar 24.

Authors

Sameh Al-Awlaqi^{1

2}, Fekri Dureab^{3

4}, Marzena Tambor^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
² School of Health and Related Research, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
³ Institute of Research for International Assistance, Akkon Hochschule, Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁵ Health Economics and Social Security Department, Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, ul. Skawińska 8, 31-066 Kraków, Poland.

Abstract

Yemen has been facing political, economic and social challenges since 1990. The fragility of Yemen's situation has led to a widespread conflict in 2015, resulting in the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Amid the humanitarian catastrophe and the collapsing health system, a platform for coordinating humanitarian health response, called the National Health Cluster, has expanded its operations across the country. The study aims to evaluate the performance of the National Health Cluster in Yemen between 2015 and 2019. A qualitative research design was employed, and ten semi-structured interviews with key Health Cluster stakeholders were conducted. The study applied the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP) guide to evaluating humanitarian action using the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) criteria. Six evaluation criteria were selected: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, effects, connectedness and participation. Inputs from interviews were manually transcribed and then analysed using NVivo 12 software. The study results indicate that the Health Cluster in Yemen has contributed to saving lives and strengthening the local health capacities in diseases surveillance. In addition, its positive effect was evident in improving the humanitarian health response coordination. Nevertheless, engaging health stakeholders, especially national organisations, was suboptimal. Exit strategies were lacking, while services to address mental health, non-communicable diseases, senior citizens and people with disabilities were not prioritised in the Health Cluster strategic plans and partners' response. To ameliorate Health Cluster performance, revising its objectives and establishing a cluster-specific rapid response funding mechanism are pivotal. Furthermore, preparing the national health system for recovery and actively engaging all stakeholders in the Health Cluster' response and strategic decisions would maximise its positive impact on Yemen's health system and population.

Keywords: Conflict; Coordination; Evaluation; Health Cluster; Health systems; Humanitarian health response; Yemen.