An abandoned hospital along the Somali coast. Lack of supplies and staff are widely affecting health services. Photo: World Concern/Tearfund
14 February 2012
People living in Somali coastal communities are facing significant hardship as a result of being caught in the combined grip of drought and conflict, according to a Tearfund partner.
Assessments by World Concern of some communities along Somalia’s coast have revealed that many people are lacking even the most basic services, with food, water, medicines, livelihood support and sanitation urgently needed.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, four million Somalis are still going hungry due to the extensive drought which is affecting large parts of East Africa. Suffering is compounded by Somalia’s continuing conflict.
World Concern’s coastal survey found that health centres have closed due to lack of supplies and staff, while water availability is limited, forcing some villagers to walk up to four miles and back to get what they need.
A woman receives a voucher for food and other basic essentials from a World Concern staff member. Photo: World Concern/Tearfund
Wiped out
One of the main economic activities of the area is deep sea fishing but fishermen have seen their livelihoods curtailed by naval embargoes and restrictions on where they can operate.
The majority of cattle have been wiped out by the drought and those that did survive have been affected by tsetse flies which have flourished after recent rains.
In the coming weeks, World Concern is hoping to expand its relief operations along the Somalia coastline through the distribution of food and other essential items as well as looking at ways to help with water and sanitation needs.
There are no international organisations with operations in these coastal areas as a result of insecurity caused by Somalia’s civil war and any new relief operation will be dependent on the success of efforts by the Kenyan and Somali governments to establish buffer zones for aid work.
Voucher scheme
World Concern has been helping 28,000 displaced people living at Dhobley, a major transit point for Somali refugees entering Kenya.
It has been providing people with vouchers which enable people to buy goods such as mosquito nets, pots, spoons, jerry cans for water, sleeping mats and plastic sheeting.
The vouchers can only be used in the shops of selected local merchants who have been carefully chosen, representing all the clans in Dhobley. Find out more about the voucher scheme here in a New York Times article.