WHO says 215,000 children in Somalia in urgent need of healthcare

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that about 215,000 children in Somalia are in urgent need of health care due to increased vulnerability to health complications related to malnourishment.



WHO Emergency Coordinator for Somalia Omar Saleh told journalists in Nairobi that there is need to ensure that more people especially those in rural areas can receive health and other humanitarian services.



"Malnutrition rates in Somalia are still among the highest in the world with one in seven children acutely malnourished, and one in 33 severely malnourished," Saleh said.



He said humanitarian agencies have increased health services and expanded emergency healthcare due to improved security following the crackdown on the Al-Shabaab militants by the African Union forces in Mogadishu and southern Somalia.



"Insecurity has been one of the main obstacles to health service delivery in most areas of southern and central Somalia as well as some rural areas of Somaliland and Puntland," Saleh said.



"Health facilities in these areas are in poor conditions with shortage of health equipment, supplies and skilled health workers, " he added.



Saleh said although nutritional situation has slightly improved in the Horn of Africa nation, the situation remains one of the worst in the world.



With reduced access to basic services, such as health care and clean water, the ability for these children to reach their potential is severely restricted.



"WHO and UNICEF are making all efforts to provide and distribute the needed medical supplies and equipment to partners and supported health facilities," Saleh said.



He said the UN health agency provided more than 220 tonnes of emergency medical supplies including 36 blood transfusion kits, 67 diarrheal disease kits, 104 interagency emergency health kits, 21 reproductive health hits, and 15 surgical supplies kits, serving over 350,000 beneficiaries in 2012.



"Funding is urgently required to be able to sustain the emergency health services currently provided by WHO and partners as well as to ensure that quality and the monitoring of the available services in Somalia, including the newly accessible areas," Saleh said.



The WHO official noted that that funding requirements for health under the Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) 2013 are 90 million U. S. dollars.



The UN World Food Program (WFP) said on Jan. 29 that it has started providing food assistance in the southern Somali city of Kismayo for the first time in more than four years.



The WFP has been training local partners in preparation for re- starting its food assistance programs in Kismayo, and has also dispatched a chartered vessel with over 1,100 metric tons of food to the port city -- enough to support the hot meal program for an initial period of three months and the nutrition program for six weeks.



The survey showed that almost half the households in Kismayo are really struggling to meet their daily needs, and 24 percent of children below the age of five are malnourished.



Aid groups had reduced access to some southern Somalia areas because of limitations placed on them by the Al-Qaida allied group Al-Shabaab blamed for landmine and grenade attacks on Kenyan soil.



The WFP is providing hot meals to 15,000 people and specialized nutritional support to some 5,000 mothers and children under the age of five years.



The agency said has set up five special nutrition centers around the city, where pregnant and nursing women and young children are checked for malnutrition.

