Menaced by hunger
Some 308,000 children are malnourished in Somalia, with nearly 56,000 of them severely malnourished.
Five years on since the famine, Somali children continue to live in the menace of hunger. Insecurity and poverty, especially among the displaced, have caused malnourishment in 1 in 7 children.
Many families have lived in Salamey Idale camp for years — with little hope of returning home. Lack of clean water, poor sanitation and high unemployment are common throughout Somalia’s displacement camps, leading to disease and malnutrition. Community Health Worker Hawa Abukar Waladi walks through the camp.
Hawa moves from door to door, checking on mothers and children’s health, including identifying malnutrition and referring families to the nearby clinic for out-patient treatment. In the last five years, malnutrition among children under-five decreased from 18% to 13%. But, more remains to be done.
Without complications, treatment for malnutrition is simple. At the clinic, children receive medical care and ready-to-use therapeutic food. Some 90% of children recover. But as old cases are successfully treated, new cases occur. Root causes, such as conflict, need to be addressed. Hawa monitors a child’s nutrition status.
Hawa often treats common childhood diseases.
She says “I am from this community. Families feel comfortable to come to me — even in the middle of night. They knock on my door whenever their children are ill.”
Hawa examines a baby outside a family’s shelter.
Hawa’s work, and others like her, are supported by UNICEF and its partners, with funding from donors such as the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO). Hawa educates mothers on simple but lifesaving practices such as breastfeeding and handwashing.
Learn more about how malnutrition is being tackled in Somalia.
