September 15 2011
SOS Children's Villages expands programme to address worsening crisis in Somalia
15/09/2011 - To contain an outbreak of measles, an increase in cases of Acute Watery Diarrhoea and other diseases, staff at the SOS Emergency Health Centre in the Somali capital Mogadishu are facing a race against time.
Additional medical teams are being recruited and trained while funding is primarily directed towards the treatment of acute malnutrition in children under five.
Resources are stretched, as SOS staff also prepare for the imminent opening of outpatient feeding programmes at Badbado Camp near the capital, Baidoa (central Somalia) and at the long established SOS Hospital in Mogadishu.
In one month alone, they administered lifesaving treatment to approximately 6,000 patients in Badbado. In Baidoa, over 200km away, within a four day period, over a thousand patients were admitted to SOS Children's Villages' newly opened facility. As in the capital, one third of those treated were under five years-old.
Camps, set up to cater for the hundreds of thousands of Somalis displaced in their homeland have been overwhelmed. The ever increasing number of people arriving at the 188 settlements in Mogadishu is a source of worry to our medical experts. With the advent of the rainy season they foresee potential for an outbreak of Cholera and Malaria as cramped unhygienic conditions are very likely to exacerbate matters. In an effort to contain the problem SOS staff are co-operating with camp managers. Within the settlements they help improve sanitation by raising awareness. Many of the camps are occupied by in excess of 8,000 displaced men women and children.
In spite of on-going security threats, that have occasionally hampered their efforts, our 250 SOS staff remain resilient in their efforts to save thousands of lives – among them some of Somalia’s 190,000 children who have suffered severe acute malnutrition.