Ravaged by war, Middle Eastern countries face a new scourge
CAIRO» When Dr. Ismail alMansouri goes to work in Yemen’s capital, he puts on one of the hospital’s few pairs of medical gloves. Then he enters a cramped clinic teeming with listless patients, many malnourished, some vomiting, others with diarrhea.
Al-Mansouri, a pediatrician, has been struggling for years to battle the rapid spread of otherwise preventable and treatable infections, such as cholera, that have surged in war-ravaged Yemen.
Now as the coronavirus outbreak intensifies in the region, he is faced with a new threat, one he can only hope to ward off with a handful of masks.
“I cannot even speak about our preparedness for the coronavirus,” he said, “because we have none.”
Long-running wars and conflicts across the Middle East have wrecked potential defenses against coronavirus outbreaks, leaving millions vulnerable in Yemen, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, the Gaza Strip and elsewhere. Health care systems have been gutted; war has blasted key infrastructure.
Several of the countries are carved up among rival claimant governments, factions or armed groups, snarling any attempt at nationwide protection programs. Hundreds of thousands of people driven from their homes by fighting are crowded in close quarters in tent camps or improper housing.
“We are becoming very worried,” said John Nkengasong, director of Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the virus reached conflict-ridden Iraq, Libya, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. “The impact will be magnified.”
Most patients who contract the new coronavirus develop only mild symptoms and recover after about two weeks. But the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by those with no visible symptoms. For older adults and people with underlying health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
So far Yemen, Libya, Syria and Gaza have not confirmed any infections. But doctors in many cases believe the virus has arrived and fear that a lack of disease surveillance systems — shortages of tests, basic supplies and properly trained professionals — is allowing an invisible pandemic to spawn.