Yemeni men and women were asked if they have access to a formal health care provider. Women report slightly higher access than men. Almost half of all women have access (48%), while only 37% of men do (Figure 1).
However, access to formal heath care when needed seems to vary in Yemen by the area and region where one lives, as well as by level of formal education and household income. Women living in urban settlements are far more likely than women in rural areas to have health care access (Figure 2).
Over 70% of urban women do have access to health care but 60% of rural women lack healthcare access.
In all but one region of the country, almost half or more of all women state that they do not have access to a formal health care provider. However, access varies significantly across the different regions of Yemen.
- In the Midlands region (Sana'a city, Ibb, Taiz), almost 80% of women have access to care while in the Northern region (Sana'a Governorate, Amran, Dhamar, Al-Jawf, Sa'dah), less than a quarter of women report having access.
- In both the Southern (Aden, Al-Dhale, Abyan, Lahj) and Western (Al-Hodeidah, Hajjah, Al-Mahweet, and Raimah) regions, over two-thirds of women do not have access to health care, while in the Eastern region (Mareb, Shabwah, Albaida, Hadramout, Almaharah) almost one-half of women say that they lack access.
As Figures 3 and 4 demonstrate, when comparing women who do and do not have access to health care, there is an inverse relationship as both level of formal education and household income increase. Figure 3 focuses on level of education among women as an indicator of access to care.
- Women with less than a primary school education report access to health care at roughly equal rates: 51% have access while 49% do not.
- Only 39% of women with no education report that they have health care access.
- In contrast, 67% of women with a university degree or higher have access to health care.
Similarly, as Figure 4 shows, women with a household income of 40,000 to 59,000 riyals per month are about equally likely to have or to lack health care access, and women with a household income of 20,000 to 29,000 riyals have a relatively narrow disparity. However, there is a drastic division between the households at upper and lower income levels (Figure 4).