Bringing Lifesaving treatment to malnourished children in Garowe, Somalia
Gargar Health Centre steps up for mothers and children in need
Garowe, Somalia, 09 April 2023: Laki Mohamed, a 27-year-old mother of six, sits on the bench rocking and soothing her crying nine-month-old daughter Nadira Hamud. She has walked for two kilometers under the scorching heat to bring her daughter to this clinic.
Gargar Health Centre is a beehive of activity. As mothers stream in, with their children in tow, nurses can be seen recording the weight and height of the children and checking for signs of malnutrition. The mothers have formed a queue, each waiting patiently for their turn as the anguished cries of their children fill the air.
For more than ten days, little Nadira had been vomiting and suffering from acute water diarrhea. As her condition deteriorated, her mother Laki decided to bring her here.
“This is the first time I am bringing my child to this clinic, and I have been received well. The nurses have attended to my daughter and the atmosphere is friendly and welcoming.”
The nurses have screened Nadira and found her with severe acute malnutrition. She has been enrolled in the outpatient therapeutic feeding programme and given Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). Her mother has also been counselled on infant and young child feeding.
“I don’t know what I would have done were it not for this clinic and the services I have received. I have not paid any fees for the care my child is receiving.”
Laki lives in a camp for internally displaced people called Washington. She is unemployed and her family solely depends on the meagre income her husband brings in from his menial job. At times, the family is forced to rely on relatives and other well-wishers.
For the staff at Gargar Health Center, Nadira’s story is not new. Every day, they attend to children brought in with complications like pneumonia, malaria, and diarrhea, only to find they are also severely malnourished. Poverty, the ongoing drought, displacement, and poor feeding practices all play a part.
“As health workers, we consider the children as our responsibility,” says Hafsa, a nurse. “Their parents trust us with their lives. When you see the child getting better, you feel motivated and are eager to do more.”
Run by the Ministry of Health, Gargar Health Centre is a UNICEF supported clinic that provides free health and nutrition services to women and children in the area. UNICEF supports Puntland Ministry of Health to undertake health and nutrition programme in Garowe, with funding from USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA).
