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STORY: SOMALIA / DROUGHT MEDICAL AID
TRT: 01:10
SOURCE: UNSOM
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 MARCH 2017, BAIDOA, SOMALIA
22 MARCH 2017, BAIDOA, SOMALIA
1. Various shots, volunteers offloading medical supplies from UN cargo plane
2. SOUNDBITE (English) MEHMET GÜLLÜOĞLU, Director General, Turkish Red Crescent:
“It was important I believe because I also saw with my own eyes that the cholera outbreak is affecting people. In the hospital, there were 70 cases. I was in the wards. Of course the women and the kids are mainly affected from the cholera outbreak. And there is a threat that it can increase much more. That’s why that support was important, but they need much more support.”
3. Various shots, volunteers offloading medical supplies from UN cargo plane
The United Nations airlifted doctors and medical supplies to Somalia’s drought-stricken South West State last week.
The supplies were donated by Turkey through the Somali Government as ten volunteer physicians from the Somali Medical Association came to the aid of local paramedics in Baidoa, who have been overwhelmed by the rapidly growing number of people afflicted with cholera, acute dehydration and malnutrition. Bay and Bakool regions are at the epicentre of the humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 2,000 people suffering from cholera after consuming water from contaminated sources.
Dr. Mehmet Güllüoğlu, Director General of Turkish Red Crescent, said Turkish relief organisations were currently working in partnership with other agencies and Somali authorities, to deliver emergency humanitarian aid to affected communities in the country. He said the two tons of medical supplies were important because he saw with his “own eyes that the cholera outbreak is affecting people.
Güllüoğlu said he visited one of the hospitals, which was treating 70 patients suffering from cholera, most of whom were women and children. He cautioned that the outbreak might get worse if not effectively tackled.
According the UN humanitarian office, more than 6.2 million people, half of the total population in Somalia, are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. Almost three million are facing crisis and emergency levels of food insecurity.
