Mogadishu: Displaced People At Risk

July 7, 2014

Huge 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’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

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

Somali staff compose 95 percent of MSF teams in the country.

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.

Somalia 2011 © Yann Libessart/MSF