JOWHAR(SOHA) – A mass livestock immunisation campaign has begun in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region targeting over one million goats and sheep. The vaccinations started in 100 villages in Jowhar, Mahaday, Bal’ad, Warsheikh, and Adale amid an outbreak of sheep measles (Cysticercusovis) and sheep and goat pox (SGP). Omar Adan Samatar, …
Read More »Mental health patients in Buhodle sent home from clinic over unpaid bills
BUHODLE(SOHA) – Dozens of patients suffering from mental disorders have been sent home from Buhodle Mental Hospital because their families in the drought-hit region of northern Somalia failed to pay the medical bills. Jama Ahmed Salad took his brother and his nephew to the hospital after they became ill. They were …
Read More »Parents resort to home remedies as whooping cough spreads in Burao
BURAO (SOHA) – Over 40 cases of whooping cough (also known as pertussis) have been reported in Odanle village, 180 km south of Burao, Togdher region, in November. Suleiman Hassan Abdi, an official from Somaliland’s health ministry, confirmed the outbreak of the respiratory infection. “Families including adult and children have …
Read More »Somali refugees in Dhagahley camp hit by medical strike
DADAAB (SOHA) – Thousands of Somali refugees in Dhagahley camp in Dadaab, northeastern Kenya, are bearing the brunt of weeks of a doctors’ pay strike. Health services have been paralysed in three health centres in the camp after 426 health practitioners including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, and interns went on …
Read More »Aid crunch forces medical centres to close in Bakool amid malaria outbreak
BAKOOL (SOHA) – The move by local aid agencies in Bakool region to cease operations has adversely affected local residents as medical centres supported by the agencies have been forced to close in the midst of a malaria outbreak. Local NGOs based in Bakool region running the centres have stopped …
Read More »Somalia’s only free ambulance service running out of cash
MOGADISHU (SOHA) – Among the first rescuers rushing to the scene of Somalia’s deadliest truck bombing last year were, as usual, members of the country’s only free ambulance service, Aamin Ambulance. Founded over a decade ago by a Somali dentist and funded by donations, Aamin Ambulance has become an essential …
Read More »Somali towns get health care after 30 years of war
MOGADISHU (SOHA) – The UN Migration Agency has begun providing life-saving health care to two Somali towns previously inaccessible because of war and conflict. Tens of thousands of people in the towns of Gobweyn and Bulla Gaduud have been deprived of life-saving health care for nearly three decades. These areas …
Read More »WHO seeks to contain cholera outbreak in Somalia
MOGADISHU (SOHA) – The World Health Organization (WHO) is stepping up measures to contain cholera outbreak in Somalia amid decline in the number of cases and deaths in the past month. The UN health agency, which cited figures from the Health Ministry of Somalia, said 32 new suspected cases of …
Read More »Hospital launches blood donor database in Galkayo
GALKAYO (SOHA) – With no established blood banks in Somalia especially in the regions, patients in need of urgent blood transfusion risk death as medical facilities are forced to scout for donors. In Galkayo town in the central region of Mudug , a local hospital is now mobilizing donors and …
Read More »Acknowledging bold steps taken – and needed – to save Somali children from polio
MOGADISHU (SOHA) – This World Polio Day, UNICEF and WHO are taking a moment to acknowledge the tremendous efforts made by the polio eradication workforce and partners over the last two decades in Somalia. By way of one recent example, UNICEF, WHO, health authorities and partners are working tirelessly to …
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Somali Observatory for Humanitarian Affairs The Voice of Reality.. The Eye of Humanitarian Truth in Somalia