Somalia

More than twenty years of persistent conflict has ruined Somalia’s economic infrastructure and forced a generation of people from their homes.

Somalia experiences frequent natural disasters, including the ongoing 2019 drought that has caused widespread crop failures and left millions at risk of starvation. The number of people displaced and desperately in need of food continues to climb as Somalia’s most vulnerable populations struggle to cope with the devastating effects of recurring droughts, floods and famine.

Since 2009, Relief International has been providing critical healthcare, education, water and sanitation services to internally displaced Somalis and those who fled to other countries but have now returned home. We have more than 100 field staff working out of six strategically placed offices across Somalia.

The 14 healthcare facilities we support screen children for malnutrition and administer life-saving vaccinations, provide critical ante- and post-natal care to mothers, and treat waterborne disease spread by lack of access to clean water sources. Relief International treated more than 62,000 patients last year.

We’ve also collaborated with students, parents, teachers, community leaders and government ministries to enroll tens of thousand of girls, transforming an educational system that traditionally provides little opportunity for girls to learn and had poor graduation rates. More than 90% of girls enrolled in our programs have stayed in school for three years or more, and we helped educate more than 115,000 students last year.

Our teams on the ground are at-the-ready to help those most affected by Somalia’s natural disasters. We’re responding to communities suffering from the current drought by distributing more than 730 metric tons of food to 4,000 people, supplying 5,100 students with take-home food rations, trucking in safe water and distributing water purification tablets.

“The devastating effects of this drought are starkly present in the communities we’re working in throughout Somalia — and growing by the day,” said Valerie Rowles, Relief International’s Interim Regional Director for Africa and Asia. “The clinics we support are seeing sharp increases in patients suffering from severe malnutrition, and the lack of access to safe water and sanitation continues to heighten the risk of outbreaks of Cholera and other deadly diseases.”

But this drought does not have to escalate into a full-blown famine. The international community has come together before to successfully contain a hunger emergency, and it’s still possible in Somalia if donors commit at the level that is needed.

“Relief International’s field staff are poised to scale up our operations and deliver life-saving interventions, but our response is dependent on an increase in resources and donations to meet the population’s urgent needs,” said Rowles.