UNICEF Dispatches Emergency Health and Nutrition Supplies for Bardheere Floods Response

Bardheere, 12 April 2023: Localized areas of Somalia, and particularly in Gedo Region, are currently grappling with flash floods that have affected nearly 100,000 people and caused extensive damage to property, including homes and farms. While flooding is a yearly occurrence in this region, this year’s rains arrived earlier than expected, catching residents off guard.

Displaced families now find themselves living in makeshift shelters on higher ground, contending with overcrowding, a lack of clean water and limited access to sanitation facilities.

To address this urgent crisis UNICEF Somalia has dispatched the first 12 metric tons of health and nutrition supplies from the central warehouse in Mogadishu. A total of 23 metric tons are in queue for the response. These supplies will be used to support lifesaving health services in Bardheere and other affected areas.

While some health facilities in the area and nearby towns are no longer functioning due to continued drought and the recent floods, others that have remained open are lacking basic medicines, equipment, manpower and other essential supplies. With the support of partners, UNICEF hopes to continue delivering more supplies in order to scale up the response.

“As UNICEF, we have managed to dispatch medical equipment, medicines, shelter tents and nutrition supplies to the Jubaland Ministry of Health and Himilo Relief and Development Association (HIRDA) for our emergency response in Bardheere. These supplies will go towards supporting families that have been displaced due to the flash floods, especially children and women who were already contending with the drought crisis,” says Aisha Hummeida, UNICEF Chief of Emergency.

As part of the preparedness action and response to the flash floods, UNICEF is supporting two fixed and six mobile nutrition treatment centers to reach children with severe malnourishment. There is also an ongoing distribution of teaching and learning material in Jaale Siyad Primary school in Baardheere town to reach over 400 children. Coordination efforts are well underway with the UNICEF water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme to provide handwashing and cholera prevention messages through primary schools.

Thanks to the generous support of donors like USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the UK Government and the Government of Germany through KfW, these materials have been made available to those that need them most.