Yemen: struggling to save lives under increasingly dangerous conditions

27-05-2012 Photo gallery

In Yemen, as in so many countries affected by armed violence, health-care workers struggle to reach and treat the wounded and the sick, under mounting threats to their own safety. Catalina Martin-Chico, winner of the first ICRC Humanitarian Visa d’or photojournalism award, captured this struggle on film in 2011, illustrating the depth of the crisis facing health-care workers and facilities in situations of armed violence around the world.

- Yemen, 2011. Nurses, doctors, students and volunteers preparing for the injured to be brought in after the demonstration on Change Square, the focal point of the protest movement in Yemen.
  © COSMOS / Catalina Martin-Chico
Catalina Martin-Chico, winner of the first ICRC Humanitarian Visa d’or photojournalism award. (23rd “Visa pour l’Image” International Photojournalism Festival – September 2011 – Perpignan, France).
- Yemen, 2011. The injured and the dead, brought in by ambulance, car or motorcycle, are taken to the mosque on Change Square, which operates as a first aid centre.
  © COSMOS / Catalina Martin-Chico
- Yemen, 2011. Medical staff are overwhelmed by the number of people with gunshot wounds.
  © COSMOS / Catalina Martin-Chico
Female nurses provide considerable moral support in a country where physical contact between men and women is to be avoided.
- Yemen, 2011. In the makeshift first aid centre, medical staff endeavour to ensure basic hygiene as they deal with each new wave of casualties.
  © COSMOS / Catalina Martin-Chico
- Yemen, 2011. Inside the makeshift first aid centre in the mosque on Change Square there is a shortage of everything – beds, equipment and staff.
  © COSMOS / Catalina Martin-Chico
- Yemen, 2011. Men and women work together to provide emergency first aid to the injured.
  © COSMOS / Catalina Martin-Chico
- Yemen, 2011. Female nurses do not hesitate to provide moral support to patients.
  © COSMOS / Catalina Martin-Chico
- Yemen, 2011. A young demonstrator wavering between life and death, after being wounded during fighting between government and opposition forces.
  © COSMOS / Catalina Martin-Chico
- Yemen, 2011. Demonstrators suffering from gas inhalation after clashes with government forces.
  © COSMOS / Catalina Martin-Chico
- Yemen, 2011. Ambulances take huge risks during armed conflicts to reach and transport the wounded and can fall victim to stray bullets.
  © COSMOS / Catalina Martin-Chico
Catalina Martin-Chico, winner of the first ICRC Humanitarian Visa d’or photojournalism award. (23rd “Visa pour l’Image” International Photojournalism Festival – September 2011 – Perpignan, France).

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