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Somalia: bringing health and hope to a beleaguered people
16-09-2008 Photo gallery
The ICRC has extended its support to 32 Somali Red Crescent clinics in central and southern Somalia, which have treated over 140,000 patients and provided more than 60,000 vaccinations since January 2008. The organization also continues to support the two surgical referral hospitals in Mogadishu, Medina and Keysaney.
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The two clinics that opened at the end of June 2008, are the only health facilities in this area. They are run by the Somali Red Crescent with the support of the ICRC. Each clinic serves 5,000 people.
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Ulayma, a mother of three, with her small boy who is very sick and weak, and can hardly walk. She has already lost three children to illness.
"Before, we had to walk to Hudur for medical care. The return trip takes five days. My first child was sick for 13 days then he died. Then I had twins. One died after delivery, the second was sick for several days then he died. The problem was the lack of medical treatment. Now if a child is sick, the clinic is very close, we can take him immediately for treatment."
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The clinics are each staffed with a midwife, a registered nurse and an auxiliary nurse. The midwife is in charge of prenatal and post-natal care, the registered nurse treats common diseases in adults such as diarrhoea and malaria and the auxiliary nurse takes care of dressings and the treatment of wounds.
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The Somali Red Crescent runs 27 permanent clinics in South and Central Somalia and five temporary clinics for internally displaced persons around Mogadishu. The ICRC pays the salaries of the clinical staff and the running costs of the clinics. It also provides medical supplies such as drugs and dressing materials as well as training.
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A surgeon operates on the victim of an explosion, removing shrapnel from his body. Keysaney Hospital is run by the Somali Red Crescent and all staff and equipment are financed by the ICRC.
Mohammed, the patient, was injured by a shell explosion as he was crossing the road to escape fighting in Mogadishu. He went immediately into surgery upon his arrival at the hospital.
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Since June 2007, the ICRC has stepped up its support for the Red Crescent health clinics which serve some 200,000 people. It also continues to support the two main hospitals in Mogadishu, Keysaney and Medina, which have admitted over 1,400 weapon-wounded people so far this year. A third of them were women and children. Over 4,200 wounded people were treated at the hospitals in 2007.
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Abdikadir, a Somali Red Crescent health officer and Hawa, ICRC health field officer, explain how to ensure personal hygiene to patients waiting at the new clinic.
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"Before, when no clinics were around, the problem during childbirth was not just the lack of medicine but also the insufficient training of traditional midwives. If there were complications, you bled and you suffered. The chance of survival was 50/50. There was no medical facility, nowhere to go."
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Faduma and her four children live in Bioley. She brought her son to the new clinic for a medical consultation.
"Before, without a clinic here, we had to walk 15 km to get treatment for the children. The traditional midwife came to our house but she has only a razor or a knife to cut the umbilical cord. In the clinic hygiene is good and they have the equipment and material to manage childbirth."
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The ICRC has been active in Somalia for 30 years and is one of the few humanitarian organizations still working there today. Each year it distributes relief aid to more than 500,000 people displaced by the protracted conflict and manages over 300 water, health, agricultural and livelihood projects. It works in close partnership with the Somali Red Crescent Society.
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