Medair

Somalia: Massive Life-Saving Response Underway For Drought-Stricken Families

Somaliland: Medair’s emergency relief programme works to help more than 300,000 vulnerable people survive the drought.

Severe drought continues to ravage the population of central Somaliland. In the isolated Sool and Sanaag regions where Medair has been working since September 2011, malnutrition rates are “Very Critical.”[1] Entire herds of livestock have perished. Children are dying.

In remote Gumburu Xangeyo village, once the heart of a rich pastureland, most families have lost everything. Consecutive droughts have decimated their herds.

There are no schools and no health facilities. Weak, malnourished children sleep their days away. Adults venture on eight-hour treks into the surrounding hills to search for water.

Medair has initiated a massive, life-saving emergency response for families in this region, with support from Swiss Solidarity, Word and Deed, “Red een kind,” EO-Metterdaad, and thousands of generous people who made individual donations to save lives in Somaliland.

We are delivering a therapeutic food programme to malnourished children in Gumburu Xangeyo and other villages across Sool and Sanaag. “Before Medair came, the children used to sleep all day and hardly moved,” says 34-year-old Fadumo Mohamed, her two youngest children standing beside her. “They were exhausted because we didn’t have enough food for them. We can see that they are happy now because they are always moving around. Without Medair, the children would have died.”

Khadar, 4, eats from a food package delivered by Medair.

We are also restoring water infrastructure in these communities. Somaliland’s pastoralists rely on berkads—enclosed water reservoirs—but many of these are so cracked and damaged that they no longer hold water. Medair will repair them, making it possible for herders to keep their animals alive, even in times of drought.

“The people in these areas say that they have never received assistance from international NGOs before and the need is huge,” says Marianne Jost, Medair Health Project Manager.  “You see a lot of children with really severe malnutrition.”

Our work takes us to some of the most isolated villages in all of Somaliland. Reaching them means driving hundreds of kilometres on rough dirt tracks through an intensely hot desert wilderness. “The areas we are working in are very remote and hard to access,” says Marianne. “Getting from the nearest real road to Gumburu Xangeyo requires a five-and-a-half hour drive over difficult tracks.”

“Bringing aid directly to Somaliland’s remote villages means pastoralists aren’t forced to leave behind everything they have and move to displacement camps,” says Ed Nash, Medair Field Communications Officer.

Gabriele Fänder holds Anab, 5, who will be treated for severe malnutrition.

In the coming months, Medair will reach approximately 324,000 people with humanitarian aid in central Somaliland. We will vaccinate 37,000 children, protecting communities from threats such as measles. We will also support additional health facilities, providing essential life-saving health services to 87,000 people. Approximately 85,000 people will benefit directly from our work repairing water infrastructure and other activities to promote access to water collection points and healthy hygiene practices.

Nutrition, health, and hygiene education will be delivered to 45,000 people by trained promoters, reinforcing our work. In total, we will train approximately 250 local people to deliver health, nutrition, sanitation, and hygiene services, making sure the skills needed to deliver essential services remain in the country for years to come.

“With this focused response, we are delivering emergency relief that will help hundreds of thousands of people survive the drought,” says Manuel Jagourd, Medair Desk Officer for Somaliland. “At the same time, we are also vaccinating children, boosting local capacity, and improving safe water access—long-term interventions that will increase the ability of these communities to withstand future droughts without the need for humanitarian assistance.”

[1] Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit Somalia. 16 August 2011. www.fsnau.org/products/maps/nutrition-situation-maps
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Medair’s work in Somaliland is supported by Swiss Solidarity, the E.C. Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, Word and Deed, “Red een kind,” EO-Metterdaad, the Department for International Development (U.K.), UNICEF, and private donations from Medair supporters.

Millions are facing severe food shortages in the Horn of Africa following years of drought. Medair is responding to the emergency in Somaliland, adding to the programmes we have been running since 2008 to offer additional life-saving health, nutrition, and WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) services. In September 2011, we began an emergency response in the eastern Sool and Sanaag regions. Read more about Medair’s work in Somalia/Somaliland.

Somaliland declared itself independent from Somalia in 1991. Its independence has not been recognised by the international community.

This web update was produced with resources gathered by Medair field and headquarters staff. The views expressed herein are those solely of Medair and should not be taken, in any way, to reflect the official opinion of any other organisation.
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