Djibouti Registers 2,776 New Yemen Refugees, Strains Obock Services

Since 10 September, fighting on Yemen’s west coast has driven a surge of refugees into Djibouti, most of them women and children. The Djiboutian government recorded 2,776 new arrivals in the Obock region by 16 September, a figure that exceeds 9 % of Obock town’s resident population. The sudden influx raises alarms that local essential services could soon be overstretched. Disaggregated data are limited, but displaced women and girls face heightened sexual and reproductive health and protection risks. Medical staff at the Markazi site logged four births within 48 hours and identified two additional pregnant women. UNFPA, alongside ONARS, UNHCR, UNICEF, ICRC and the Djiboutian Red Crescent, is scaling up its response, supplying the Obock Medical‑Hospital Center with reproductive‑health kits, family‑planning commodities, essential medicines, and 100 dignity kits.