$1.2 Million in Emergency Medical Aid Arrives in Somalia

Large scale response includes 179,000 courses of medicines, supplies, and nutritional supplements to help refugees in crisis.

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 SomaliaField Hospital to Open SoonA 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.Read MoreDonate Now