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STORY: SOMALIA / CHOLERA
TRT: 2.07
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SOMALI / NATS
DATELINE: 15 AUGUST 2011, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA / 16 AUGUST, NAIROBI, KENYA
15 AUGUST 2011, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
1. Med shot, medical staff administering to baby in mother’s lap
2. Close up, malnourished baby in mother’s lap
3. Wide shots, hospital treating room
4. Med shot, three children on treatment bed with IVs
5. Med shot, young child receiving IV drip
16 AUGUST 2011, NAIROBI, KENYA
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Osamu Okunii, Child of Child Survival Department, UNICEF Somalia:
“Usually the diarrhea is caused by very poor sanitation, and also very contaminated water, but also it is facilitated by acute malnutrition and improper infant and young child feeding, if they get water before 6 months of age, they get very easily diarrhea. And also the acute malnutrition really lowers the immunity to such diarrhea.”
15 AUGUST 2011, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
7. Med shot, children walking in between IDP shelters
8. Med shot, two children eating from pots while woman washes clothes nearby
9. Close up, child sucking on fingers while eating
10. Wide shot, SOPHDA partner explaining to woman how to use aquatab to clean a jerry can of water
11. Med shot, man and woman sitting down while he explains
12. Close up, dropping aquatab into jerry can
13. Wide shot, IDP camp with latrine in background
14. Med shot, latrines and woman walking towards latrines with baby potty
15. Close up, woman washing hands at water station outside of latrines
16. Close up, washing hands
17. Close up, chlorine label
18. Close up, hand measuring our spoon-full of chlorine
19. Close up, hand shaking bottle of chlorine and water
20. Wide shot, man climbing to the top of a water tower
21. Med shot, man pouring chlorine solution into water in tower
22. Med shot, man taking water pipe to fill large drum with water
23. Wide shot, exterior of Banadir Hospital
24. Med shot, woman with malnourished and AWD suffering child in her lap
25. Close up, child in mother’s lap
26. SOUNDBITE (Somali) FodayAli, mother of 7 (who walked 25 kilometers to reach Mogadishu 5 months ago.):
“After 4 days of treatment she is finally responding, this is the first time I see her active!”
27. Close up, child in mother’s lap
The pediatric ward of Benadir Hospital in Mogadishu has seen nearly 900 cases of acute watery diarrhea in July alone, this is up from just over 400 in March.
As more and more Somali’s leave their homes and come to the capital these highly contagious diseases are spreading. Children under the age of 2 are hit hardest, accounting for over half of all cases and deaths.
These young ones are receiving life saving treatment.
The famine in the region has forced hundreds of thousands of Somalis to come to Mogadishu seeking food. Many arrive in a state of extreme malnutrition. The influx of such high numbers into tight quarters, in an endemic cholera area, has devastating consequences.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Osamu Okunii, Child of Child Survival Department, UNICEF Somalia:
“Usually the diarrhea is caused by very poor sanitation, and also very contaminated water, but also it is facilitated by acute malnutrition and improper infant and young child feeding, if they get water before 6 months of age, they get very easily diarrhea. And also the acute malnutrition really lowers the immunity to such diarrhea.”
The lack of access to safe water during their journey to Mogadishu has compounded the risk of disease outbreak. Health, nutrition and water and sanitation partners are currently working with the local and newly arrived populations to minimize the disease risk and subsequent deaths.
Trained hygiene promoters are going door to door with healthy hygiene education and re-hydration kits to treat new cases urgently. UNICEF is providing infusions, antibiotics, rehydration salts and zinc at local hospitals.
Household water treatment supplies, hand washing facilities, latrines and safe water are also being provided by UNICEF and their partners to displaced persons camps, private homes and existing feeding centres for malnourished children.
Many of Southern Somalia’s urban centres rely on shallow wells. If these wells are not protected of treated with chlorine they can become the perfect breeding ground for water borne diseases.
Chlorine supplies are being distributed and already 217 water sources and nearly 60 water point outlets have been treated. These sources serve almost half a million residents and IDPs in Mogadishu, and hundreds of thousands of others throughout the south of the country.
For Foday Ali, a mother of seven, this makes all the difference.
SOUNDBITE (Somali) FodayAli, mother of 7 (who walked 25 kilometers to reach Mogadishu 5 months ago.):
“After 4 days of treatment she is finally responding, this is the first time I see her active!”
