UK – WHO partner to support drought-affected communities across Somalia

The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) and the World Health Organization country office in Somalia have recently signed an agreement to support WHO’s emergency health response to the current drought in the country.

In support of Federal and State Ministries of Health in Somalia, this important contribution will enable WHO to prevent and mitigate the adverse impacts of drought on health of the women, children and other vulnerable populations impacted by the ongoing drought, one of the worst in recent history.

The contribution received from the UK Government will enable WHO to scale up and sustain its integrated health and nutrition interventions in some of the worst affected, hard-to-reach and inaccessible areas where the people have been devoid of basic health and nutrition services for decades. 

The delivery of these interventions has targeted women and children, among other vulnerable groups, as they have been the worst affected in this drought.

WHO intends to deliver part of these preventive health interventions, such as risk communication, nutrition screening, referral and distribution of micronutrient supplements, including identifying children who are sick and have missed out on routine immunization through the community health workers who are mostly female and drawn from the same communities in which these services will be delivered.

In addition, with this new funding from the UK, WHO will support deployment of a number of mobile outreach teams in these areas for administering childhood vaccines, supporting antenatal care thorough the provision of iron and folic tablets to pregnant women, treatment and referral of sick and malnourished children, as well as treatment and care of women and children with common ailments. 

Improving access to health care and other preventive health and nutrition interventions for these vulnerable populations who have been devoid of basic health services for decades will mean that every vulnerable child and every woman of child bearing age, including pregnant and lactating women, living in these hard-to-reach and inaccessible areas will be protected from diseases that are preventable. 

With a focus on 16 operational priority-one districts, severely affected by the ongoing drought, WHO expects that approximately 2 million people will be reached through these integrated health and nutrition activities.

UK’s Development Director for the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office Somalia Damon Bristow said in a statement, “The situation remains dire. Disease and lack of access to health care pose the biggest threat to millions of Somalis impacted by the drought. WHO’s unique expertise and emergency health response is critical. This new UK support to the WHO will save lives and avert famine and its consequences,”

Somalia is grappling with its worst drought in 40 years, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the country says this has threatened and displaced more than 1.9 million women and girls of reproductive age.

According to the UN, nearly half of Somalia’s population – 7.6 million people – need urgent assistance because of the drought.

Somalia’s maternal mortality rate is one of the highest in the world, with a ratio of 692 deaths per 100,000 live births, and the UN says drought and displacement have stretched already limited sexual and reproductive health services.

On top of the daily struggle to survive, the UN says at least 720,000 Somali women and girls are at risk of gender-based violence.