The Kismayo General Hospital has received the largest number of malnourished children in recent times.
The children admitted and currently being treated at the hospital are facing acute malnutrition are mostly children from drought-displaced families living north of Kismayo.
Of these children, 79 are under the age of five, ten of whom are in the Emergency Department.
The malnutrition in the children was as a result of the food insecurity that has plagued the drought-affected people who are unable to afford daily meals.
Mama Malyun Ali Hassan is a mother of three children. She is currently with her malnourished children at the Kismayo General hospital. She is one of the displaced people from the rural areas of Afmadow in the Lower Juba region.
She and her family now live in Istanbul, north of Kismayo, where she and 1,020 other displaced families have settled to receive humanitarian assistance.
” We fled from the biting drought that has hardly hit our livestock and families. We barely survived. We braced the long distance to seek refuge in Istanbul in Kismayo. I myself and my 3 children are malnourished and seeking aid here at the hospital. Life has not been easy for us,” Said Malyun Ali Hassan.
Ijaabo Farah Nur is a mother of 4. She is also one of the mothers whose children were admitted at the hospital.
She was displaced from Harboole area under Afmadow district after her family lost more than 50 head of cattle.
She narrated her ordeal with ravaging drought and the adverse health impacts it had on her family.
“Life has been difficult for us. We faced severe starvation and almost looked death in the face. My children born the greatest brunt of the drought that has affected us all. I brought my children here at the hospital to get treatment for severe malnutrition. It’s been a great deal of horror for us but we thank God we are getting relieved now,” said Ijabo Farah Nur.
The head of the emergency ward at Kismayo General Hospital, Dr Feisal Adan Ibrahim told Radio Kismayo that in the last three weeks there has been an increase in the number of malnourished children in families affected by the drought.
Dr Feysal Adan has expressed concern that the malnutrition situation could worsen if the rains fail for a year, and the ravages of drought continues.
BY OSMAN HUSSEIN ALI
