Doctors Without Borders

The conflict that began two decades ago in Somalia continues, and its consequences are currently exacerbated by drought—one of the worst on record in the country. Thousands of people have been forced to flee Somalia, and are seeking humanitarian aid in refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. A measles epidemic is spreading. The lack of infrastructure and services is worsening the population’s vulnerability. In recent weeks, civilians have endured new military offensives launched in southern Somalia and in the capital Mogadishu.

It is in this context that Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has, in less than six months, provided intensive medical care to more than 10,000 severely malnourished children who were brought to medical facilities. MSF has projects in northern Kenya, including in Dadaab; in eastern Ethiopia, in refugee camps in Malkadida, Kobe, Bokolmayo, Hilleweyn, Dolo Ado; and across much of south-central Somalia itself, in Marere, Beletwayne, Dinsor, Daynile, Mogadishu, Jowhar, Guriel, and Galcayo. MSF has also enrolled a total of 54,000 severely malnourished children in outpatient feeding programs in more than 30 locations in these three countries.

At the same time, MSF teams have been battling the deadly combination of measles and acute malnutrition, which affects children in particular. Read more

Photo: Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF