Blog 2 War, Drought, Malnutrition, Measles — A Report from Somalia

In the past 2 decades, the African country of Somalia has been going through a major catastrophe brought on by war and a drought.  Hundreds of thousands of Somalians have been displaced, looking to bordering countries for safety and healthcare.  "The near-total absence of an effective epidemiologic monitoring system within Somalia limits data on mortality and morbidity." These people are extremely malnourished and at risk of measles.  Since 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended mass vaccination campaigns even after an outbreak has begun.  Although hospitalization for malnutrition is only available for those with other medical conditions, severe malnutrition can be treated by care givers in the home as well as food supplements by The World Food Program.  "We have developed better means for treating people and preventing illness in emergencies over the past 20 years, but it is more difficult in Somalia than in many other countries to reach the people in need. Moreover, these advances are always at the mercy of politics, and continued fighting as well as the mistrust or misuse of aid will make it difficult to meet even a fraction of the enormous needs."
    The people of Somalia are in great danger and are not being properly treated by their government. This is why they are seeking help from neighboring countries, which is not necessarily fare in my opinion. Their country needs to be dealing with these problems rather than putting them onto their neighbors which could very well further and expand the epidemic. With so many displaced citizens, the government should be very concerned with finding solutions to the issues of malnutrition, drought, measles,etc.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1111238
1/26/12 7:30 pm