Sunday, April 01, 2012
The United Nations in mid-2011 declared Bay Bakool and five other regions of Somalia as famine zones owing to a deadly drought that claimed the lives of thousands and displaced millions others inside and outside the war torn nation.
High rate of malnutrition and preventable disease like measles, diarrhea and malaria were the major causes of deaths in the famine hit regions of Somalia with the capital Mogadishu recording the highest number of internally displaced persons.
Baidoa town in south central Somalia is among the latest towns that have fallen to the hands of the Somali transitional federal Government and Ethiopian troops and among the areas currently facing health challenges.
It is the first time since 1992 that the United Nations declared famine in a part of Somalia but the 2011 famine is considered the worst and the UN says that it was the worst in more than half a century.
Public healthcare still remains an issue of concern in Somalia. Lawlessness is among the major cause of the collapse of the health care system in Somalia. Majority of hospitals were either forced to shut down due to lack of financial and material support leaving millions of Somalis desperate.
Majority of the victims of the drought were women and children. Health officials in Mogadishu argue that illiteracy and insecurity were among the greatest factors that have contributed to the high infant mortality rate in South and central Somalia.
Al-Shabaab control large swaths of land in South and Central Somalia but the Somali Ministry of health plans on rehabilitating almost all the major hospitals in the newly liberated areas in a bid to rekindle the Somali health care system.
The ever escalating conflict has also hindered aid agencies from operating and accessing communities in the south and central Somalia.
Somalia remains one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced people in the world and has been without a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former junta ruler Mohamed Siad Barre.
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