COMMON QUESTIONS
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Activities
Somalia 2020 © MSF
In 2020, COVID-19 further complicated access to health care in Somalia and Somaliland. MSF assisted with the response to the pandemic while continuing to run core activities wherever possible.
Four years after a series of violent attacks on our staff forced us to withdraw from Somalia and Somaliland, we started providing much-needed medical care again in May 2017.
Based on the medical and humanitarian priorities we identified, our initial focus is on malnutrition and pediatric care. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) support the therapeutic feeding program, outpatient and inpatient pediatric services, and emergency room at the Mudug regional hospital in North Galkayo, and the maternity and pediatric wards of the regional hospital in Baidoa.
We hope to extend our support to help communities in the south of the country with their outbreak preparedness and response, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other health care providers.
The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated the overall humanitarian situation in Somalia and Somaliland, where people were already struggling with the effects of climate hazards, locust infestations, and recurrent outbreaks of fighting. Malnutrition rates among children were well above the emergency threshold in many areas, and the number of deaths during pregnancy and childbirth remained among the highest in the world. In 2020, 2.6 million people were displaced, mainly due to conflict and floods, while 4.1 million people were considered food insecure.
Throughout the year, despite the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we managed to maintain most of our regular activities and support to hospitals, including maternal, pediatric, and emergency care, nutrition, and diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB). Some activities, such as mobile clinics, were put on hold, while others that had been planned, such as ‘eye camps’—providing screening and treatment for common eye conditions—and fistula surgery campaigns, were delayed.
In Somaliland, which has a high burden of TB, MSF supported the diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis TB (DR-TB) at a TB hospital in Hargeisa and three regional TB centers. We supplied patients with longer medication refills to reduce the number of medical appointments for which they would need to travel, lessening the risk that patients would contract COVID-19.
We adapted our medical programs to screen COVID-19 patients and referred them to designated treatment facilities; provided training for Ministry of Health staff in several locations; and put in place hygiene, emergency preparedness, and preventive measures to protect staff and patients.
In addition to these activities, we launched emergency responses to assist people affected by flooding in Bardale and in Bardhere town after the Juba river burst its banks in April; a cholera outbreak in Beledweyne and in Baidoa town in May; and the aftermath of cyclone Gati, which hit the coast of Puntland in November.
121,500
Outpatient consultations
7,390
Births assisted
3,600
Admissions of children to outpatient feeding programs
39
People started on treatment for MDR-TB
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© Médecins Sans Frontières 2021
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