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SlideshowMogadishu: Displaced People At RiskOctober 13, 2011Huge numbers of Somalis have left the country’s central regions to seek refuge in the capital, Mogadishu, since July. They have had to leave due to poor agricultural production, loss of livestock because of drought, increasing prices, and perpetual insecurity. Once they reach Mogadishu, however, they are vulnerable to a host of health problems. Photos by Yann Libessart/MSF 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, is filled with waste. The country has suffered 20 years of civil war with no real central administration, including waste management.# 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF The water sold from donkey carts in Mogadishu’s streets is often unsafe and brackish; but there is no functioning water system in the city.# 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF More than 150,000 newly displaced people arrived in Mogadishu from drought-affected central regions of Somalia between July and October 2011. Most of them settled in makeshift camps such Rajo camp, located on a city beach.# 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF The lack of hygiene in the camps leaves people highly vulnerable to infectious diseases such as cholera, measles, and pneumonia. # 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF Finding food and water is a daily challenge for displaced people. # 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF Regular food distributions are conducted by local and international non-governmental organizations. # 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF MSF distributes ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) to families with young children every week to prevent malnutrition.# 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF MSF staff screen a child for malnutrition in one of the health posts the organization runs in the makeshift camps.# 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF A sick child is treated in one of four MSF intensive therapeutic feeding centers (ITFCs) in Mogadishu. Children are kept in the ITFCs when they have health complications in addition to severe malnutrition, which can put them at risk of dying.# 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF Mothers are also given food in the ITFCs. Proper nutrition increases their ability to breastfeed. # 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF Newly displaced people often suffer from high levels of exhaustion and dehydration.# 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF Displaced children in Somalia have rarely been immunized against measles. The health system there has deteriorated for decades. Outbreaks of the disease are frequent and deadly.# 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF There are few international staff working inside Mogadishu due to security threats. MSF relies largely on its Somali staff.# 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF After several interruptions in medical activities due to security incidents, MSF made a rare exception to its rule of having no armed protection, and in July 1991 began hiring private armed guards. # 
Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF Staff collect testimonies from displaced patients to better understand the humanitarian situation in the areas where they come from and that MSF cannot access. #
Tags: Somalia, Refugees and IDPs, Vaccination Campaign, Malnutrition, Testimony |
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