STAMFORD, CT –
More than $1.2 million in critically needed medicines and medical supplies from
AmeriCares have arrived in Somalia to help thousands of starving children and
adults suffering from widespread famine and one of the worst droughts in over a
half century.
The emergency shipment from AmeriCares Stamford,
Conn. headquarters contains enough critically needed antibiotics, pain
relievers, IV solutions, maternal and child health products and surgical
supplies to treat an estimated 20,000
patients. The medicines were specifically requested by the Ministry of Health
based on critical need, and are currently being distributed to hospitals,
clinics and mobile medical teams treating the sickest and most severely
malnourished patients in and around Mogadishu.
More than 13 million
people across East Africa are in need of urgent assistance due to one of the
worst humanitarian crises in decades. In Somalia alone, 4 million people are at
immediate risk of developing communicable diseases due to a lack of health
care, poor sanitation and malnutrition. Outbreaks of cholera, typhoid fever, malaria
and measles have been reported in parts of Somalia and refugee camps across the
region, along with high incidences of pneumonia and acute respiratory
infections. About 30 percent of Somali children are acutely
malnourished, placing them at high risk of contracting serious, and often
deadly, diseases.
“These medicines and
supplies may mean the difference between life and death for the most vulnerable
patients, including many pregnant women and children,” said AmeriCares Medical
Director Dr. Frank Bia. “By delivering oxytocin for women in labor, sterile
sutures for the operating room and broad spectrum antibiotics for patients
fighting infection, we are saving lives.”
Since famine was declared in parts of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia this
summer, AmeriCares has delivered more than $2 million in aid to these East
African nations, including building a field hospital for Somali refugees
crossing the border into Kenya. The hospital will house a therapeutic
feeding center, operating room, intensive care unit, labor and delivery ward,
laboratory and pharmacy when it opens later this month at the Kambioos refugee
camp. The semi-permanent facility, which will be operated and staffed by the
International Medical Corps, is expected to be operational for at least two
years. Additionally, AmeriCares has delivered to Somalia enough nutritional
supplements to provide 8,000 people a daily supplemental feeding for one month,
and enough water purification supplies to Kenya to give 34,000 people a two-month
supply of safe drinking water.
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.
