• The World Health Organisation (WHO), in partnership with the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)  through the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation for Humanitarian Work, and in close coordination with Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health and Population (MoPHP), has launched a comprehensive programme to combat malnutrition in Socotra, a Yemeni island in the Indian Ocean.

• Socotra is facing malnutrition challenges driven by food insecurity, as well as repeated outbreaks of cholera, measles and dengue fever. 

• Health and nutrition services are critically under-resourced, placing children under 5 and pregnant and lactating women at extreme risk of preventable illness and death.

• The island’s more than 83,000 residents are served by 32 health facilities which are under immense strain. 

• It lacks a central public health laboratory, a functional drug warehouse and a medical prepositioning system, all of which are essential for timely emergency response and sustainable health care delivery.

• Over the next two years, the project aims to reduce mortality related to poor health and malnutrition by 20 per cent through an integrated health system strengthening approach. 

Socotra Island

• The Yemeni archipelago of Socotra has been called the “Galapagos of the Indian Ocean”. 

• Socotra Archipelago, in the northwest Indian Ocean near the Gulf of Aden, is 250 km long and comprises four islands and two rocky islets which appear as a prolongation of the Horn of Africa. 

• The site is of universal importance because of its biodiversity with rich and distinct flora and fauna: 37 per cent of Socotra’s 825 plant species, 90 per cent of its reptile species and 95 per cent of its land snail species do not occur anywhere else in the world. 

• Most recognisable is the dragon’s blood tree (Dracaena cinnabari), the squat branches and dense foliage of which are dotted across the Socotran landscape.

• The marine life of Socotra is also very diverse, with 253 species of reef-building corals, 730 species of coastal fish and 300 species of crab, lobster and shrimp.

• In 2008, UNESCO recognized 75 per cent of Socotra’s land as a World Heritage Site. 

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