Stamford, CT – AmeriCares
first emergency shipment for the famine in Somalia is on its way to Mogadishu where
thousands of starving children and adults are arriving daily in search of food,
clean water and shelter. The shipment, which departed from AmeriCares Amsterdam
warehouse today, contains enough basic medicines and supplies to treat 15,000
malnourished patients at risk of dying from preventable diseases. The medical
aid will be used in health care clinics and by mobile medical teams treating the
swelling refugee population in and around the capital city, which is estimated
at around 100,000 and growing every day.
AmeriCares is coordinating the distribution of this lifesaving
aid through a Mogadishu-based partner that has worked in Somalia for nearly 20
years and operates 21 health care clinics in the southern and south central
regions of the country. A second medical aid shipment is planned for the coming
weeks.
“One
out of every three people in Somalia is suffering from acute malnutrition,
which weakens their immune systems and dramatically increases their risk of
contracting disease,” said AmeriCares
SVP of Global Programs Christoph Gorder. “With tens of thousands of people
crowded into squalid, unsanitary conditions, disease can spread like wildfire.
By providing antibiotics that fight infections and other basic medicines and
supplies, AmeriCares will save countless lives.”
The
United Nations recently declared a famine in parts of Somalia, where 70 percent
of the population is in crisis due to one of the worst droughts in decades and
an escalating political conflict. AmeriCares has established an Africa Disaster
Relief Fund to help direct critical resources to Somalia and the surrounding
region
AmeriCares has been aiding survivors of natural
disasters, political conflict and extreme poverty in Africa and around the
world for nearly 30 years, saving lives and restoring health and hope. AmeriCares
has provided $11.5 million in aid to Somalia since 1988, including more than $3 million in medicines, nutritional
supplements, and vitamins during the last major drought and food crisis in 2008
and 2009.
