Worldwide Services
Yemen
Dissolution of the Foundation Worldwide Services
The first medical workers of Worldwide Services entered the country in July 1972. For many years an international team of medical professionals have served the Yemeni population
in the Saadah governorate. The work in Saadah came to a tragic end, when in 2009 nine teammembers of the Worldwide Services team were kidnapped, of whom only two young children have returned alive.
In 2010 a number of remaining medical workers of Worldwide Services made a fresh start on the island of Socotra, where they worked in the main hospital of Hadibu and in the health centers of Qalansiya and Noged. The last workers left the country in 2019.
Waiting and hoping that peace would return to Yemen, the board of Worldwide Services met regularly to keep the Foundation active until the time new workers could return to Yemen.
Unfortunately, the situation in Yemen is still very volatile and unpredictable.
In a board meeting on the 26th of August 2026, the board came to the unanimous decision to dissolve the Foundation Worldwide Services.
The Board will fulfill all legal requirements to this end.
We are grateful that our small organization was able to serve the people of Yemen for almost 47 years. In general we received a warm welcome in Yemen and we had the privilege of working with
many Yemeni colleagues.
Yemen and its amazing people will always have a special place in our hearts.
News
A group of young new midwives, all from Socotra, have just finished their three years training in Mukalla. From the Director of Health of Socotra they all received a complete set of instruments for the purpose of home deliveries.
Yemen is one of the oldest centers of civilization in the Near East. Its capital and largest city is Sana'a. Yemen's territory includes over 200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 354 km (220 mi) to the south of mainland Yemen. It is the only state in the Arabian Peninsula to have a purely republican form of government. Yemen was the first country in the Arabian peninsula to grant women the right to vote. Yemeni unification took place on 22 May 1990, when North Yemen was united with South Yemen, forming the Republic of Yemen.
The majority of Yemen's population is divided into tribal groups, especially in the northern areas of the country where 85% of local residents belong to various tribes. There are also small groups of peoples of Turkish/Ottoman origin in urban areas. Roughly 66% of the population are Sunni Muslims following the Shafi'i school while 34% adhere to the Zaydi Shia branch of Islam with small minorities of Ismali Muslims.
A Shia rebel movement, the Houthis, emerged in the early 2000s, claiming it would fight against what it saw as the marginalization of the Shi’ites of the Zaydi sect, which prevails in the Yemeni highlands.