Press Release
Measles is Killing the Children of Yemen and their Rulers Do Not Care
(Translated)

A research study mentioned of "the return of measles to Yemen" conducted by the researcher and measles specialist, Dr. Reem Al-Khashab, whose results were published last March, and confirmed the registration of 5,000 epidemic cases of measles during the past two years. The study showed that the number of deaths from measles reached 53 during the year 2021, and that 79% of the deaths were among children under five years of age.

UNICEF also confirmed, in mid-December, the death of 15 children from measles in Yemen in 2022, during its monitoring of infection cases, between January and July 2022, as the infection reached approximately 1,400 children, of whom 15 died because of the disease in 7 governorates, including Aden. As for the number of people infected with measles in Yemen during the year 2022, the Ministry of Health of the Sana'a government announced last December that 18,597 cases had been recorded, of which 131 died. During a press conference, it called on international organizations operating in Yemen to support the health system and focus on enhancing preparedness for epidemics as a priority.

Yemen comes in second place in the statistics mentioned by UNICEF, in April 2022, which included more than 5 countries suffering from a rise in measles cases, as cases in Yemen reached 9,068 cases.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that affects children. Almost everyone who catches it suffers from a painful rash, sore eyes, fever, stiff muscles and a bad cough. Most of the children who are at risk of catching measles are those who suffer from malnutrition.

The situation in Yemen and other countries has reached what it is under the capitalist system that does not give people any value in return for achieving the interests of those who rule the people by it. The rulers in Yemen and other Muslim countries, and their neglect of the affairs of the Ummah, are nothing but a byproduct of that rotten, utilitarian system. All of this is nothing but a natural result of the capitalist view of life. Materialism and expediency are its criteria, and intellectual property treatments and legislation are its byproduct. This point of view not only gives priority to the material value, but also harnesses other values to achieve it. All of this is because of the corrupt foundation from which these corrupt treatments emerged that plunged their owners and the whole world into evil and injustice.

As for Islam, it obligated the state to satisfy the basic needs of the citizens, including medical treatment, where the state provides medical care for everyone without differentiating between rich and poor, or between an employee and an unemployed person, and all expenses incurred in that are paid from the treasury. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:

«الْإِمَامُ رَاعٍ وَهُوَ مَسْئُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ» The ruler is a guardian of his subjects and responsible for them. Medicine is one of the interests and utilities that people cannot live without, as it is one of the necessities. He (saw) said:

«‏مَنْ أَصْبَحَ مِنْكُمْ مُعَافًى فِي جَسَدِهِ، آمِناً فِي سِرْبِهِ، عِنْدَهُ قُوتُ يَوْمِهِ، فَكَأَنَّمَا حِيزَتْ لَهُ الدُّنْيَا»

"Whoever among you wakes up physically healthy, feeling safe and secure within himself, with food for the day, it is as if he acquired the whole world." The Messenger (saw) made health a necessity, on the grounds that not providing medicine for a group of people leads to harm, and removing the harm is obligatory on the state. He (saw) said:

«لَا ضَرَرَ وَلَا ضِرَارَ» "There is no injury nor return of injury."

From this point of view, too, medical treatment was a duty of the state. On top of this, the Messenger (saw) was given a doctor, so he made him for the Muslims. The fact that the Messenger was given a gift and he did not dispose neither take it, rather he made it for the Muslims, is evidence that this gift is for the generality of Muslims and is not for him.

The rotten root, which bears eroding branches and corrupt fruits, must be uprooted and replaced with the good tree of Islam, and the Islamic way of life should be resumed by establishing the second Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) on the Method of the Prophethood that Hizb ut Tahrir works for, who issued a book entitled “Health Care Policy in the Khilafah State”; to be implemented immediately once established, Allah willing,

[وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَى هُوَ قُلْ عَسَى أَنْ يَكُونَ قَرِيباً] “They ask, ‘When will that be?’ Say, ‘Perhaps it is soon!’” [Al-Israa: 51].

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Wilayah Yemen