A shipment of $1.2 million in
urgently requested medical aid arrived in Mogadishu, Somalia on October 11 – the most recent delivery in AmeriCares’ large scale emergency
response to help ease profound human suffering in the famine-stricken region.
Join us in saving lives in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia »
The escalating humanitarian
crisis in Somalia has claimed tens of thousands of lives amid dire predictions
that unless humanitarian aid increases, three quarters of a million people
could perish in the next few months.
Outbreaks of cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhea, malaria, respiratory infections and measles remain a daily reality for 1.5 million
refugees in congested camps – creating an urgent need for chronic
care medicines.
AmeriCares has responded with
a strategic delivery pipeline of
medicines, supplies, and nutritional supplements, focusing on enabling primary
care in settlements and shelters to help countless innocent children and adults
living in overcrowded camps in the Somali capital city of Mogadishu, as well as
in Kenya and Ethiopia. To date, AmeriCares has delivered:
- Over
179,000 course treatments of medicines to provide a broad range of primary care
services and support surgical procedures
- A
daily supplemental meal for 8,000 malnourished children and adults in need of
nutritional stabilization
- Water
purification to provide 34,400 people with a two month supply of clean drinking
water
- Infrastructure
for a field hospital in the Kambioos refugee camp, located 3 miles from one of
the complexes in the Dadaab camp
“One out of every three
people in Somalia suffers from acute malnutrition, which weakens immune systems
and increases risk of disease,” said AmeriCares SVP of Global Programs
Christoph Gorder. “Our deliveries of antibiotics, nutritional supplements and
basic medicines and supplies will help save countless lives.”
As news of the famine
unfolded, AmeriCares delivered an initial
shipment of medicines and supplies to help mobile medical teams treat 15,000
patients. Additionally, AmeriCares provided a partner
organization working the Mudug region of Somalia with an Emergency Medical
Module to serve an additional 15,000 patients, enabling our partner to expand
four primary health facilities and two medical health units in the
central-north region of Somalia. New shipments of nutritional supplements and
water purification supplies are currently underway.
$1.2 Million in Emergency Aid Arrives in Somalia
Field Hospital to Open Soon
A 4,500-square-foot
AmeriCares field hospital, scheduled to open soon, has been erected in
the Kambioos refugee camp in Kenya, just three miles from the Dadaab camp. The hospital includes a therapeutic feeding
center, operating room, intensive care unit, as well as a labor and delivery
ward, laboratory and pharmacy. AmeriCares has equipped and furnished the
hospital and stocked it with an initial supply of medicines and consumables
while partner International Medical Corps will operate and staff the facility
for an anticipated two years.
