Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUnifeed
SOMALIA / EMERGENCY AIRLIFT
STORY: SOMALIA /EMERGENCY AIRLIFT
TRT: 3.13
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: SOMALI / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 8 SEPTEMBER 2014, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
1.Wide shot, UNICEF supplies being loaded onto a chartered flight at Aden Adden International Airport in Mogadishu, Somalia
2.Various shots, various supplies being loaded onto the chatter plane
3.Various shots, vaccine boxes being loaded onto the plane
4.Med shot, boxes of plump nuts being arranged inside the plane
5.Med shot, aircraft propeller above the clouds
6.Med shot, plane carrying vaccines and other supplies arrives at Hudur Airstrip, Mogadishu
7.Various shots, UNICEF supplies loaded onto vehicle
8.Wide shot, vehicle carrying vaccines, plump nuts and healthy kits arrives at maternal, child and health clinic in Hudur town.
9.Tilt up, man carrying a box of UNICEF healthy kits enters the cold chain room
10.Wide shot, various vaccines being put in the freezer
11.Close shot, a box containing measles vaccines
12.Various shots, measles vaccines boxes being unpacked and loaded in to the freezers
13.Tilt up, man arranging the vaccines in the freezers
14.Close shot, 9 month-old Hamza Hassan being held by his mother Aden Mohamed at the health clinic
15.Various shots, Hamza Hassan being vaccinated against measles
16.SOUNDBITE (Somali) Aden Mohamed, mother:
“My other children were not vaccinated. The first child got measles when he was six, he developed high fever and had diahorrea and, after 10 days, he develop a skin rash. He is lucky to have survived. My other three children also contracted measles at the age of four and had the same symptoms.”
17.Med shot, a mother and her son waiting to be vaccinated against measles
18.Various shot, a boy being vaccinated against measles
19.Wide shot, Abdinor Hussein, UNICEF Health Officer, talking to the mothers at the health clinic
20.SOUNDBITE (English) Abdinor Hussein, UNICEF Health Officer:
“Measles is one of the main killer diseases for children especially those who are under five years old and Somalia as country had a very difficult situation and circumstances where many communities were cut off from health services because of inaccessibility and insecurity. UNICEF is keen to support no matter where the location is.”
21.Close shot, health worker preparing a measles vaccine
22.Med pan shot, UNICEF health officer talking to mothers to women carrying their children entering the clinic
23.Med shot, Abdullahi Abdul, clinical officer at the health centre registering a patient
24.SOUNDBITE (English) Abdullahi Abdul, clinical officer
“Now that we have the vaccine in place, we will also do our normal routine, that is door to door campaign, I think that is the best way to mobilize this community. Before we used to tell them we have or we don’t have them, some of them come from very far place so we will make an initiative of reaching them.”
25.Close shot, women and their children in the queue waiting to be attended for various services at the clinic
26.Close shot, a malnourished child and her mother waiting to collect the plump nuts
27.Various shots, women and their babies queue at the center
28.Wide shot, a woman walking with her son after immunization at the streets Hudur town
29.Various shots, health worker registering a child who has come for immunization
30.Med shot, a boy being vaccinated against polio
31.Med shot, women and their children waiting at the outpatient therapeutic the Hudur clinic
32.Various shots, women in the queue waiting for plump nuts distribution for their malnourished children.
A major logistics operation is underway in Somalia to bring urgent aid to areas cut off from the international help.
The Somalia Government and African Union peacekeepers retook these areas but the roads remain dangerous – so critical supplies are brought in on special chartered flights.
Today UNICEF is bringing in vaccines, health supplies and peanut paste for malnourished children on a flight from Mogadishu. The plane lands at three remote towns – only staying long enough to off load the boxes.
The plane arrives in Hudur (north east of Mogadishu) and the crates are put onto trucks. They are driven to this clinic which was closed by the militants and reopened earlier this year with supplies airlifted in by UNICEF. This consignment includes measles vaccines for an emergency campaign following a serious outbreak in the country.
UNICEF’s local partner MARDO quickly installed fridges brought in by UNICEF necessary to store the vaccines at the right temperature.
Aden Mohamed brings her nine month-old son, Hamza to the clinic to be vaccinated against measles. He is the first in the family to receive the vaccine.
Mohamed explained the problems her children had because they were not vaccinated against measles.
She said “the first child got measles when he was six, he developed high fever and had diahorrea and, after 10 days, he develop a skin rash. He is lucky to have survived. My other three children also contracted measles at the age of four and had the same symptoms.”
So far, in Hudur, over 87,000 children have been immunized with the vaccines brought in by air. And one of the key concerns at present is the measles outbreak.
UNICEF Health Officer, Abdinor Hussein, said that measles is “one of the main killer diseases for children,” especially for those under five in Somalia. He noted that Somalia that many communities in the country had been cut off from health services because of inaccessibility and insecurity.
Getting the vaccines to the clinic is only one step. The population also needs to be encouraged to use the health facilities.
Clinical officer Abdullahi Abdul explained UNICEF’s door-to-door initiative to reach to people: “Now that we have the vaccine in place, we will also do our normal routine, that is door to door campaign, I think that is the best way to mobilize this community.”
Children are at greatest risk of contracting measles and other diseases because so many of them are malnourished and weak. And the situation in these areas is expected to get worse - at least until the expected rains start in October.
Emergency flight operations are expensive and are not a long-term solution. However, UNICEF has managed to bring in health, nutrition and education supplies for thousands of women and children – saving lives and ensuring the most vulnerable receive the critical help they so desperately need.
Download
There is no media available to download.
