CERF responds to drought and floods in Somalia in 2006
Somalia remains one of the most worrying and challenging humanitarian crises in the world. The country has some of the worst health indicators – one in every four children dies before reaching the age of five. Global acute malnutrition rates, especially in the South and Central Region, are above the emergency threshold of 15 per cent. Two-thirds of the population does not have access to safe drinking water. Chronic food insecurity and high malnutrition rates were compounded by an unprecedented drought in early 2006, the worst in a decade, affecting 1.8 million persons and putting vulnerable groups at risk of famine. According to needs assessment, the humanitarian response required to address both immediate life-saving needs and medium-term livelihood needs such as protection and rehabilitation of productive assets.
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February 2006: Young girls waiting for the water truck to arrive in their village in the Rabdhurre district of Wajid, southern Somalia. Without the water trucking intervention in February, which brought water from the Wajid town borehole to their village, 65 kilometres away, the girls would have had to walk very long distances to collect water.
[Photo: UNICEF Somalia] |
In 2006, Somalia received a total of USD 16 million from the CERF rapid response grants window. Priority was given to urgent life-saving activities. Sectoral allocation was made as follows: health and nutrition (50 per cent), water and sanitation (30 per cent) and livelihood support (20 per cent). Given the regional aspect of the drought crisis, some agencies like FAO opted for development of a regional Plan of Action, which was established in consultation with the Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Eritrea, and Djibouti country teams.
UNICEF received a total of USD 1,128,026 to support activities in the sectors of water and sanitation as well as health and nutrition. Under nutrition, funds were used for timely procurement of fortified blended food for targeted supplementary feeding programs benefiting an estimated 2,500 malnourished children.
Within water and sanitation, CERF funds were used to supplement the ongoing UNICEF response to an estimated 200,000 persons at immediate risk from poor access to water and inadequate sanitation. UNICEF, through its partners, increased water provision to 63,000 vulnerable persons. Of these, 36,000 displaced persons were served through water trucking while a further 27,000 persons were supported through emergency rehabilitation of existing water sources whereby 10 shallow wells and 6 village water systems were rehabilitated. Chlorination of water sources was also carried out to reduce the risk of disease. CERF funds were also utilized to maintain water production of higher yielding water sources through procurement of pumps and generators benefiting 161,000 persons. Emergency water response contributed towards reducing the suffering of populations at immediate risk and helped to prevent displacement of populations in search of water.
After almost three years of a polio-free status (starting in October 2002), children are once again forced to live under the specter of this crippling disease. The re-emergence of polio in Somalia is the result of a combination of factors, including poor sanitation and the difficulties of conducting large-scale immunization programs due to problems of access and coordination linked to the ongoing conflict. The impact of the current outbreak that began in 2005, has also caused considerable concern amongst public health officials. This stems from the risk that people fleeing the conflict area might transform the problem from a localized outbreak into a significant regional threat, undermining polio eradication activities in neighboring countries (including Yemen, Ethiopia and polio-free Kenya).
CERF funds proved a key factor in maintaining the momentum of the 2005 immunization initiative. They paid for vaccine procurement for UNICEF/WHO for one round (out of a total of nine) of immunizations in 2006. The polio campaign activities in Somalia formed part of the wider Synchronized National Immunization Days (NIDs) performed in the Somali Region of Ethiopia and northeast Kenya in June 2006. They will continue until transmission is stopped on both sides of the Somali border. The impact of the joint UNICEF/WHO immunization campaigns can be clearly seen in the epidemiological data. Since the beginning of the new outbreak in July 2005, 211 cases of wild polio virus 1 were confirmed by July 2006. However, the number of confirmed cases reported was 185, with only 26 cases in 2006.
The comprehensive immunization campaign targeted an average 1.4 million children under five years old during each round of National Immunization Days (NIDs), with a reported coverage ranging from 63 to above 95 per cent. Collated data on the epidemic suggest that the outbreak has been brought under control in the key areas of Mogadishu, and Lower and Middle Shabelle. If the campaign has proved successful, as current results suggest, CERF funds will have not only contributed to limiting the spread of the disease in the context of the emergency response, but will have stabilized the situation allowing UNICEF/WHO and their partners to focus on eradicating polio altogether from Somalia in support of MDG 6.
In support of its health response, WHO procured four new emergency health kits (EHK) and four diarrheal disease (cholera) kits with the objective of enhancing availability of essential drugs to bolster UNICEF’s existing drug stocks. Theses essential drugs will help to meet the needs of 90,000 people over a three-month period. To date, one EHK has been provided for Mogadishu, one for Kismayo, and one for Baidoa, the three major population centers in the drought-affected South and Region. The remaining EHK and the diarrheal kits have been pre-positioned in Somalia and are ready to be distributed according to need.
The provision of essential drugs is meant to contribute towards control of excessive mortality due to severe malnutrition, measles, and other communicable diseases during the current drought. In addition, 28 health workers were trained on communicable disease control (CDC) response, 22 laboratory health workers were trained on basic microscopy (malaria and disease surveillance), and 35 nurses were trained on mobile outreach activities to extend health services to vulnerable populations including IDPs. Immunization and laboratory supplies have also been ordered and are expected in-country to support the polio and measles mass vaccination activities as well as to improve basic laboratory responses.
With its CERF grant of USD 600,000 (as part of a regional FAO allocation), FAO and its NGO partners were in a position to maintain the purchasing power of pastoralists through the treatment and vaccination of over 300,000 productive animals in the Middle Juba region as well as the de-stocking of 900 cattle belonging to 900 households (3,600 individuals) in the Lower Juba and Bakool regions. The purchase and de-stocking of non-productive animals prevented beneficiaries from relying on unsustainable coping strategies. The cash received by pastoralists during that period was mainly used for watering, feeding and treatment of breeding animals. When and where de-stocking became irrelevant during the Gu season, FAO used existing funds to support livelihood recovery of marginalized pastoralists in the Gedo region through redistribution of over 2,000 shoats and 53 pack animals. Funding livelihood activities helped to prevent vulnerable communities from becoming reliant on relief assistance, and helped pastoralists escape from deepening poverty and a prolonged humanitarian crisis.
In cooperation with other UN agencies and NGOs intervening in the drought response in South and Central Somalia, WFP identified pre-paid passenger and cargo flight services as critical to an efficient delivery of humanitarian services desperately needed by the affected population. Aid workers were constrained by inadequate means to transport personnel and relief cargo to the affected locations. Access by road to most of these areas is limited by insecurity and poor road infrastructure. CERF funds of USD 1,000,000 facilitated prepaid passenger and cargo flights. Since the service was launched, a total of 450 humanitarian personnel and approximately 50 tons of humanitarian cargo have been flown into airstrips located in 15 remote locations of Somalia. A total of 20 NGOs have accessed the flight services that will run until the end of September.
In addition, USD 450,000 were received to fund three components, namely air-to-ground communication, essential security and safety measures at airstrips, and renovation of UN common premises in Baidoa and Wajid. WFP also received USD 499,984 to provide equipment and manpower to upgrade the inter-agency security telecommunications networks in the drought affected areas in South and Central Somalia. However the project has been delayed due to late disbursement of funds. Finally, in order to reduce the incidence of acute and severe malnutrition, WFP received USD 850,000 to procure 1,080 tons of fortified blended food (CSB) to be distributed to 436,000 beneficiaries located in areas with acute food shortages.
[Last update: September 2006]
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