New health services, new director, new hope

International health charity Merlin welcomes its new Country Director for its programme in Yemen.

Saif Nemir brings more than 25 years’ experience to his role as well as having recently worked in Yemen for Save the Children for two and a half years. His other NGO posts include Liberia, Indonesia and his home country of Sudan.

Merlin’s programme in Yemen has got off to a good start, with more than $4m from international donors but Mr Nemir wants to treble that by the end of 2013.

He said: “The need is great here, especially in Hodeidah and the southern areas of Yemen where Merlin has mobile health clinics. Malnutrition in children is a huge problem and will be our number one priority. As your paper highlighted only last month, a report by the United Nations World Food Program states that more than 60% of children in Yemen are acutely and chronically malnourished and that a staggering 10% of children do not live past the age of five.”

“We have big ambitions and hope that our programmes will reach 500,000 people by the end of 2013.

Asked whether it was proving hard to fully staff Merlin’s health programme, Mr Nemir said: “Quality is the most important thing so it may take a while to fill some of the more skilled roles. Yemen is a beautiful country with warm people so I hope that anyone who is thinking about Merlin can see past the headlines and join us.

“The work we do is hugely rewarding. It is a privilege to be able to make a difference to people’s lives.”

Merlin will have 18 mobile health clinics and will also provide services at Ministry of Health centres. Its services are mainly aimed at tackling malnutrition but there will also be primary healthcare advice and treatment for common illnesses as well as an increasing range of services for pregnant women to improve their chances of a safe labour.”