Aden in the Dark: Yemen's Hospitals Struggle Amid Protracted Power Crisis

Aden, Yemen – In this coastal city long accustomed to hot, humid summers, the absence of electricity can reshape an entire day.

When the grid goes down, fans and air conditioners stop spinning. Sleep becomes difficult. Students race against time to finish homework before darkness falls. Children spill into the streets, while young people head toward the sea in search of a breeze and cool water.

Inside hospitals, where treatment cannot wait until the lights come back on, electricity carries an entirely different weight.

Yemen's power crisis predates the current war. Even before the conflict, only about 55 percent of the population had access to electricity from any source – one of the lowest rates in the Middle East and North Africa. Since 2015, damaged infrastructure, fuel shortages and an aging generation and distribution system have made supply even more fragile. In Aden, power plants repeatedly face shutdowns, leaving residents without electricity for long stretches. Rising insurance premiums for fuel tankers bound for Aden are also blamed for deepening the crisis.

According to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment published this year, Aden receives only two to six hours of electricity a day, with structural weaknesses and fuel shortages causing frequent outages.

When the sun sets over the city, the second half of the day begins. Homes and businesses are plunged into darkness, lit only by scattered pinpricks from batteries and solar systems. Residents often do not know how long the latest outage will last, when power will return, or how long it will hold.

In summer, when temperatures in Aden climb to nearly 40 degrees Celsius, the consequences are hard to escape. Residents interviewed mid-year said their homes were nearly unbearable during prolonged cuts. The heat does not always fade when the sun goes down.

"Sometimes the power comes back while we are asleep, so we have to wake up to use it. Our lives are tied to when the electricity comes and goes," one resident said. For her family, each outage is measured not only in hours but in disruptions: children who cannot sleep, food spoiling in a warming refrigerator, household chores left waiting.

When the heat indoors becomes too much, Youssef heads for the shore. He says the sea is no longer just a place of leisure but a refuge from the city's unbearable heat.

"When the power is out for hours, it's very hard to stay inside. No fan, no air conditioning, and the humidity makes the heat worse, so we go to the sea," he said.

Toward the end of the day, young people and families gather along the water. Some swim. Others simply sit by the water and wait for the city to cool. But the sea cannot solve Aden's power crisis. Hours later, Youssef returns home and sometimes finds the house exactly as he left it.

"Sometimes we come back and the power is still out, and then we start waiting all over again," he said.

For children like Mohammed, Saeed and Abdullah, the blackouts have changed where childhood itself unfolds. When the house gets too hot, they go out into the street, run between the houses or sit with other children until late at night.

"It's hot inside, so we go down to the street to play. We play football or sit with friends. Outside is better when the power is out," one of the boys said. For them, blackouts are not an unusual event but a part of life they have grown up with.

The effects follow them into the classroom. In Aden, the United Nations Development Programme has recorded more than 7,000 students and teachers struggling in dark, stifling classrooms during outages. Installing solar systems at eight schools and one education office has helped somewhat. One teacher said some students had fainted from the heat.

At home, exam preparation can depend on a rechargeable lamp or a small solar system, if the family has one. Hospitals, by contrast, have no choice but to wait for the darkness to pass. Operating rooms, intensive care units, laboratories, medical refrigerators and dialysis machines all depend on a continuous power supply.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says recurrent blackouts disrupt life-saving health services across Yemen, forcing facilities to rely on a mix of grid power, generators and solar systems. In 2025, WHO supplied about 4.33 million liters of fuel to 177 health facilities nationwide to keep generators and essential equipment running.

Zeina Ahmed, a kidney patient, watches the tubes carrying blood into her dialysis machine.

"For people at home, a power cut means heat and darkness. For us here, the first thing we think about is whether we can get dialysis," she said. "I come to the hospital knowing I need this session. If it's postponed, I keep thinking about when I'll be able to get dialysis and whether the machines will keep working."

After years of erratic grid power, solar panels, batteries and generators have become familiar features of Yemen's landscape. They sit on rooftops, powering households, businesses and schools that can afford them.

According to WHO, more than half of households in Yemen now rely on solar energy in some form, while hospitals and health facilities increasingly adopt solar systems to keep essential services running.

Families that can afford larger panels and batteries can run more appliances. Others have just enough power for a single light bulb, a fan or a phone charger – a fragile shield against the darkness and the heat.