A Fighting Chance
Cali looked wasted when his mother Amina brought him to the SOS Mother and Child hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia. He had severe acute malnutrition, the most dangerous form of malnutrition.
He suffered from diarrhoea, loss of appetite, fever, cough and he vomited all the time. For three months Amina helplessly watched as her baby faded away. She had no money for a bus ride to the hospital. The nearest healthcare provider to her home in Wanlaweyn village, northwest of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu is the SOS facility which is 90 kilometres away.
Eventually good Samaritans in her neighbourhood raised the money she needed, and Amina made the two hour journey to the health facility.
“Cali was quickly admitted in the stabilization centre where children below six years with such conditions are cared for,” says Dr. Abdullahi Said. “The child was severely dehydrated. He was semi-conscious so we inserted a feeding tube through his nose.”
“I almost refused to have the tube inserted but when the doctors explained to me why it was important, I let them do it,” says Amina. “Cali was fed this way for two days before he started eating on his own.”
Most patients visiting the facility are internally displaced persons, returnees and poor families from the surrounding areas. The hospital targets children under-five years, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Services are offered free of charge
After five days of admission Cali was out of danger. He was discharged to the outpatient program where he would be monitored while receiving nutrition supplements. For his full recovery Amina would have to provide Cali with adequate and balanced foods.
This will be a challenge for the mother of nine for she has no source of income. The farm animals she once depended on died during the famine in 2011. They get by on the bare minimum
Most families in Somalia have been struggling to cope with harsh climatic conditions in the war-torn country. This has resulted in poor crop productivity, massive loss of livestock and high food prices. Subsequently, mothers and children have poor access to nutritional food.
It is estimated that more than 200,000 children under five suffer from acute malnutrition across the country, while over 40,000 have severe acute malnutrition (UNICEF, 2015).
Without a proper diet children like Cali are at risk of stunting or even death. About 137 Somali children under-five (per 1000 births) die before reaching their fifth birthday (World Bank, 2015).
The SOS hospital handles about 140 emergency cases like Cali’s every month.