Dr. Samiya*, 38, is a general practitioner who has been working in the Yemen humanitarian response since 2013, serving as a doctor in mobile clinics. She joined Save the Children in October 2023, becoming a case management medical doctor in February 2024 supporting injured children with appropriate medical care and support.
I do not understand what the parties to the conflict in Yemen gain from the violence. Do they sleep peacefully while harming their own children? These events bring nothing but more suffering to children and their families. I hope they will work to stop this madness.
Working with children who have sustained injuries has been a turning point in my perspective on the conflict. I never anticipated how difficult it would be to face children’s suffering every day. Now, whenever my phone rings, I’m rattled, fearing it’s news of a child injured somewhere.
Every case we handle leaves a lasting mark, and you end up living through all its ups and downs. Most injuries involve limbs and eyes.
One case involved a nine-year-old boy who was injured by bomb shrapnel while trying to protect his two-year-old sister. She had picked it up, and he tried to take it from her and throw it away. In the process, it detonated, causing serious injuries to both his eyes as well as shrapnel wounds to his arms and legs.
We first treated his immediate injuries and then we pursued eye surgery, which was ultimately successful and allowed him to regain limited vision.
Another case was a 16-year-old girl who was injured in shelling and had to have her leg amputated after efforts to save it failed. I was in her room when she woke up and found out about her leg, she was crying and screaming: “where is my leg, where is my leg.”
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In May this year, a 13-year-old boy was hit by mortar shrapnel that injured his eyes and head, eventually leading to his death.
At first, after he lost his sight. I remember wondering how a child so young could do without vision - only to see him pass away later.
His stepfather told me that his birthday was in the same month, and he had started planning a party for him when the tragedy happened.
All injured children, even those with minor wounds, are deeply affected psychologically due to the traumatic experiences they have lived through. I experience this first-hand, since I meet them immediately after the injury, when they and their families are still in shock and distress. It obviously goes beyond the hospital walls.
Children who are injured need more than emergency care—they need long-term support and protection.
Psychological support is part of the program we deliver, but it remains limited due to resources. This issue is especially concerning in a context where specialized mental health services are scarce nationwide, and where mental health is often not a priority for people struggling with daily survival needs including food.
The suffering of these children has had a personal impact on me as well. It is deeply mentally exhausting.
When a child dies, I struggle to return to work the next day. I grieve for every child left with permanent injuries and scars, like amputations or blindness. How can a 17-year-old live without sight? How can a 9- or 16-year-old bear watching others walk while they cannot? These questions weigh heavily on me.
Most challenges stem from the limited availability of medical services. There is only so much we can provide, while some children require urgent and very costly specialized care that is beyond our capacity to cover.
Moreover, children’s need for long-term support often leaves us powerless; our emergency interventions end once the child is stabilized and discharged. Yet children need ongoing medical follow-up and mental and psychological support to help them return to education and rebuild their lives. Their families also need financial assistance to sustain care and recovery.
I recently worked on the case of a 13-year-old boy from Taiz who was shot by a sniper. The bullets tore through both his legs, causing an open wound and leaving his legs nearly amputated. The child nearly died from bleeding. The boy survived thanks to the medical staff, but his legs remain in very poor condition and require multiple surgeries.
Sami*, 13, a young boy from Taiz, Yemen, was shot while playing near his home, leaving both his legs severely injured. Sami, who loved football and dreamed of becoming a famous football player, can no longer walk or play — something that has deeply affected him psychologically. His recovery has been long and difficult; he has undergone nine surgeries, and his treatment is still ongoing. “He’s better now and recovering,” says his mother Ameena*. AHMED ALBASHA/ Save the Children
We are trying everything we can, as his legs remain at high risk of amputation—something the family and doctors are desperately trying to avoid. Currently, the child is at home receiving nursing care, but his psychological state is extremely fragile.
When I visited him, he complained of severe pain, looking out the window at his friends playing while he sat immobile, crying from both pain and frustration. His case leaves us feeling powerless, as he urgently needs care in a specialized medical center—yet here, no hospital can handle such a condition. All we can do is treat his complications, even though they could ultimately cost him his life.
Health facilities in Yemen suffer from a shortage of resources—whether human resources, sufficient specialists, or medical equipment which leaves doctors unable to treat many critical cases. For example, there is a boy with a bullet lodged in his brain. The doctor decided to leave it because removing it was too risky to operate.
I can’t stop thinking about the child and his family, living with that uncertainty and waiting for complications that may come at any moment.
My message to the Yemeni parties to the conflict and the international community is to take serious steps towards ending the war. Despite the truce, children are still constantly targeted while playing outside their homes and going to their schools.
*Name changed to protect identity
Save the Children provides victim assistance for children with blast injuries as part of a project funded by the European Union.
