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Emergency Preparedness and Humanitarian action
Current humanitarian situation
Up to 2 million people in Somalia, 1.46 million of whom are
displaced, are in need of humanitarian assistance. South Central Somalia
is the area most affected by conflict and the resultant displacements of
population, disruptions of services and restrictions on movement.
Combined with the absence of safe drinking water and sanitation and the
low level of immunization coverage, these factors represent major
threats to health. The more than 200 sentinel sites across the country
ensuring disease surveillance and early response to outbreaks have shown
a rise in vector-borne diseases (malaria), and vaccine-preventable
diseases (measles). Added to this, acute watery diarrhoea is endemic is
most parts of the country. There is thus a high burden of preventable
death and disability among the vulnerable population.
The availability of health services is severely limited, relying almost
exclusively on NGOs for delivery. Service delivery is hampered by the
weak public health system and the lack of infrastructure (including
supplies, equipment and amenities), health facilities and skilled health
workers. The frail emergency health system is overburdened by the
ongoing fighting: in Mogadishu alone, at least 7000 people have been
wounded in 2010 (a quarter of them children), and WHO estimates that
more than 500 have been killed.
Achievements in 2010
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©WHO/Somalia/Omar Saleh
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Current priorities for WHO in Somalia:
Emergency health services through implementing partners, training of key health workers, provision of essential supplies and equipment, and targeted rehabilitation of health facilities
Outbreak surveillance and response.
Outbreak surveillance and response.
Coordination of health cluster partners including assessment and information-sharing.
Please see
Health Cluster
Emergency preparedness: developing capacity to respond to health emergencies.
Scaling-up WHO’s health humanitarian intervention in Somalia
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