A humanitarian air shipment of 34,000 pounds of a high-calorie Xango nutritional supplement – especially beneficial for children, and expectant or nursing mothers – departed on September 20 to provide lifesaving help to severely malnourished refugees in Mogadishu.  The shipment is one of three scheduled deliveries that will help feed a total of 13,000 starving children and adults in the Horn of Africa for one month.

The specially formulated food for supplemental nutrition is just one facet of AmeriCares large scale famine response in the region, where hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled their homes in search of food. Despite an outpouring of international support, more than 13 million people in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia remain in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Malnutrition rates have reached 58%, and it is estimated that as many as 3,000 people may die every day. As the numbers of displaced and malnourished continue to rise, lives hang in the balance.

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Humanitarian Relief Pipeline:

AmeriCares first shipment of medicines and supplies to treat 15,000 arrived in Mogadishu in early August. Upcoming humanitarian aid deliveries include:

• Nutritional Supplement to feed 4,300 people: A second planned shipment of the special nutritional supplement will be integrated into bulk food distribution centers and used in feeding centers in and around Mogadishu.
• Aid to feeding program: This program, targeted to help children under age 5 in drought-affected communities in Kenya, will receive enough of the nutritional supplement to feed 4,300 severely malnourished children in feeding centers and clinical settings providing medical attention for the most vulnerable children.
• Water purification tablets to help 30,000 people for two months:  A shipment of 3.1 million water purifying sachets is underway to replenish water stocks for three camp-based water and sanitation programs in Kenya and for communities suffering famine in Ethiopia. 
• Over $1.2 million in medicines and supplies:  A delivery of donated and prepositioned medicines and supplies is being prepared to help clinics and mobile medical teams working in Mogadishu camps. Additionally, AmeriCares will provide medicines and consumables to treat 15,000 patients in the northern region of Mudug, Somalia.

Photo Courtesy of REUTERS/Ismail Taxta, www.Alertnet.org

Famine has spread to six out of eight regions in southern Somalia, with 750,000 people facing imminent starvation, and hundreds of people are dying each day despite a ramping up of aid relief.

Field Hospital to Open Soon

In the meantime, a 4,500-square-foot AmeriCares field hospital now being set up, is scheduled to open soon within the Kambioos refugee camp established in Kenya. The hospital, will house a therapeutic feeding center, operating room, intensive care unit, as well as a labor and delivery ward, laboratory and pharmacy. AmeriCares partner in the region will operate and staff the facility. AmeriCares is setting up and outfitting the hospital with equipment, and stocking it with an initial supply of medicines and consumables.

Historic Aid to the Region

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 height of the nation’s drought and food crisis of 2008-09. The Horn of Africa region, including Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya has received nearly $874 million in AmeriCares aid since 1988.