More than 30 children have succumbed to death as a result of malnutrition at the Kismayo General Hospital at the start of this year.
The number malnourished children being admitted at the Kismayo General Hospital has spiked in recent months, according to Faisal Adan Ibrahim, head of the unit to deal with malnourished children.
Kismayo General Hospital is currently treating 107 children under the age of five, while in the past 6 months 33 children have died as a result of malnutrition and prolonged drought in the country.
Falxado Ibrahim Abukar is in Kismayo General hospital with her two-year-old hospitalized daughter due to malnutrition ailment.
Falxado Ibrahim told Radio Kismayo that she brought her two-year-old daughter at the Kismayo General Hospital swollen and seriously ill and did not think she would make it alive out of the hospital following her severe ailment.
After five days of intensive treatment at Kismayo General Hospital, the two-year-old baby is now feeling much better and healthier, thanks to
Falxado hails from Jilib district in the Middle Juba region. Her family has been dependent on agricultural production but she says she has not grown any crops in the last two years due to severe drought, leaving her family in dire need of food.
The majority of children suffering from malnutrition are children living in areas not controlled by Jubbaland administration and have no health facilities nearby as well inaccessible to aid agencies.
Faisal Adan Ibrahim, head of the nutrition department at the Kismayo General Hospital told Radio Kismayo that most of the children who died of malnutrition ailments were children from outside government-held areas of Jubbaland state.
Report by Ahmed Mohamed Toronto
Edited by Osman Hussein Ali
