SOMALIA: Government seeks urgent help for Mogadishu's malnourished children

Subject: SOMALIA: Government seeks urgent help for Mogadishu's malnourished
children

SOMALIA: Government seeks urgent help for Mogadishu's malnourished children

MOGADISHU, 25 July 2011 (IRIN) - At least 1,000 of an estimated 14,000
malnourished children in 50 camps for the drought-displaced in Somalia's
capital are in a critical condition and government officials have appealed
for immediate help.

"According to samples taken by the ministry and its partner organizations,
about 14,000 children are suffering from serious malnutrition in the 50
drought-displaced camps in Mogadishu," Aden Ibrahim, the Health Minister in
Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), told IRIN.

"The ministry is focusing on the children under five as most of them are
suffering from diseases such as measles, diarrhoea, malnutrition, etc."

According to the latest Humanitarian Action Update [
http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/reliefweb_pdf/node-435750.pdf
] from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), more than half a million severely
malnourished children in the Horn of Africa are at risk of imminent death.
The agency said access to food for these populations should be scaled up
immediately.

In Somalia, UNICEF said, "population-wide death rates are above the famine
threshold with more than two deaths per 10,000 people every day or four
child deaths per 10,000 children every day. Across Somalia, out of a total
3.7 million people, as many as 1.85 million children are in need of urgent
humanitarian assistance. This represents an 85 percent increase since
mid-2010, and an increase of over 35 percent, or one million people, since
January this year."

The agency said urgent food deliveries were needed to stabilize the plight
of children and families on the move.

"The number of acutely malnourished children has risen from 476,000 in
January to 780,000, with 82 percent of all acutely malnourished in the south
- where 640,000 children are acutely malnourished," UNICEF said. "Under-five
death rates are higher than 4/10,000/day in all areas of the south where
data is available, peaking at 13-20/10,000/day in riverine and agro-pastoral
areas of Lower Shabelle."

The agency added: "Humanitarian operations have been very difficult but not
impossible, with increasing access to the south gradually being tested.
UNICEF will continue to work with government, UN agencies, international
NGOs and a network of capable national partners in 2011 to meet the pressing
needs of 1.85 million children."

Hospitals overwhelmed

According to Lul Mohamoud Mohamed, director of Banadir Hospital - the
largest in Mogadishu - the number of malnourished children was increasing
daily at an alarming rate.

"Due to the increase of the malnourished children in Mogadishu and the wide
range of the town that the hospital covers, the nutrition kits are only
sufficient for this month; by next month, we will not have any nutrition
kits," she said.

Banadir is one of two hospitals catering for the malnourished children,
mostly from the southern parts of Mogadishu.

"The other one catering for children in Mogadishu is the SOS hospital, in
the north of the city," Mohamed said. "In the south, where most of the
displaced people are, only Banadir provides services for malnourished
children."

According to a report [
http://home.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/communications/wfp22097
9.pdf ] by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), scientific evidence has shown
that chronic under-nutrition in the first two years of life leads to
irreversible damage, meaning that children may never reach their full mental
and physical potential.

"When a child under two chronically lacks the right nutrition, mental and
physical damage is irreversible," WFP said. "This lack of nutrition makes
the child more susceptible to illness throughout his or her life and a less
productive member of society. And during emergencies, not only does the
vulnerability of children increase, but the incidence of disease also goes
up. This is a double threat to health and well-being."

The agency added that children who suffered from chronic malnutrition when
young may live with a high risk of chronic conditions, such as diabetes and
cardiovascular disease, in later life.

Schools out

Meanwhile, school-going children from poor families in Mogadishu have
stopped learning because there is no public school in the city.

Hussein Shire Jima'ale, a teacher at the private Muqdisho Primary School in
the capital, told IRIN: "There are hundreds of private schools in the city;
the fees pupils are charged vary; for example, high schools charge between
US$10 and $12 per student per term while primary schools charge $7-10 per
pupil per term.

"This has had a negative impact on the children in Mogadishu; I believe it
is one of the reasons that has forced children on to the streets because
their families have lived with violence and displacement during the past 20
years and can hardly afford school fees."

Jima'ale said the government had "some" control over only three schools,
with a combined 700 students; "all other previously public schools are now
private institutions".