STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The war in Iran has stalled global medical supply chains. Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has interrupted oil shipments, also restricted shipments from warehouses in Dubai. Clinics and humanitarian centers across the Middle East, Asia and Africa will soon be at risk of running out of basic medication and food. NPR global health correspondent Fatma Tanis reports.
FATMA TANIS, BYLINE: It's a critical time for hospitals and clinics in Yemen, according to Marc Schakal, program manager for Doctors Without Borders in Dubai. Yemen has a chronic malnutrition problem and ongoing outbreaks of cholera, measles and polio.
MARC SCHAKAL: We are already seeing in our pediatrics an increasing number of admissions. And this is our main priority now, is to have this therapeutic food arriving in Yemen on time.
TANIS: But the therapeutic food that treats child malnutrition is stuck in Dubai, a critical hub for medical and humanitarian supplies. Bob Kitchen is the vice president of emergencies and humanitarian action with the International Rescue Committee based in Nairobi.
BOB KITCHEN: We've got one shipment that was supposed to be delivered into East Africa, which is now blocked. The humanitarian depot there that's managed by the U.N. has massive stocks that are now stuck. We can't get them to acute crisis situations like Sudan, Ethiopia.
TANIS: Some of the items in the warehouses like tents and latrines have a long shelf life, so do the dry and canned foods, but not the drugs. They will expire. Alternative routes have also been disrupted. Janti Soeripto is the CEO of Save the Children. She says they have medication stuck in a warehouse in India that needs to get to Afghanistan urgently.
JANTI SOERIPTO: We can't take the road because there's been also there conflict, which means that is impossible. We would then normally airship it. Those costs have doubled over the last month because of the price of oil. So now the transport for drugs are more expensive than the drugs themselves.
TANIS: As a veteran humanitarian, Bob Kitchen says this crisis feels different.
KITCHEN: I haven't seen before such a perfect storm where we're dealing with, right now, a massive surge in humanitarian need between Gaza and Lebanon and Sudan, Ethiopia on the brink.
TANIS: All of this, he says, has been compounded by the Trump administration's cuts to global aid.
Fatma Tanis, NPR News.
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