Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mogadishu (Agenzia Fides) – Up to 30 children suffering from acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) are treated daily at the Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, medical staff told IRIN. Although the exact number of children affected by AWD across the city could not be established, the medical source, who requested anonymity, told IRIN some deaths had been reported. An official from the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), said that the facility handles up to 350 patients in three days.
On 31 March, Osman Libah, a deputy minister in Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), said: “An outbreak of the disease has been reported in Madina district where many displaced people are. Many children in Mogadishu are among the suffering internally displaced persons [IDPs]; they face diarrhoea, malnutrition and food shortages.” Provision of health services in Mogadishu is often hampered by ongoing fighting between government troops and oppositionist Islamist militia, mainly the Al Shabab group. In its 25 March-1 April weekly humanitarian update, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA Somalia), said the situation in Mogadishu remained tense, with sporadic shelling, especially in Hodan and Boondheere. At least 25 civilians were killed and nearly 100 others wounded. OCHA reported that between 26 and 29 March, the UN World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with Banadir University, conducted two training courses on AWD detection, management and control at the university for 151 health workers from Banadir, Middle Shabelle regions and the Afgoye corridor, which hosts hundreds of thousands of IDPs. (AP) (5/4/2011 Agenzia Fides)
