Our Work in Somalia
In ancient times home to powerful trading empires that dominated the Horn of Africa region, Somalia became independent in 1960 with the merger of British and Italian-controlled territory. After a promising beginning, a series of weak governments, intense clan warfare, and famine have left it one of the poorest, most dangerous places on earth. Somalia today is a failed state, with millions of its people internally displaced, and hundreds of thousands living as refugees outside the country and development slowed to a crawl. According to UNICEF figures, infant mortality stands at 225 per thousand, barely 30% of the population has access to potable water and only 13% of boys and 7% of girls attend school.
Despite these unsettled conditions, International Medical Corps has been operating in Somalia since 1991, when it became the first American non-governmental organization to arrive in the war-torn Somali capital of Mogadishu after the overthrow of President Siad Barre. Throughout the past two decades, we have implemented Primary Health Care, Nutrition, Emergency Feeding, Water/Sanitation/Hygiene (WASH) and Post Harvest Storage programs in Somalia.
Today, the worst drought in 60 years is affecting East Africa and in July the UN declared famine in parts of Southern Somalia. Rising food prices, wide scale crop failure and a lack of basic resources have created a humanitarian emergency with experts predicting that the famine will spread throughout southern Somalia in the coming months. International Medical Corps is responding to the drought and famine crisis with targeted emergency nutrition and WASH services in Somalia well as services in Somali refugee camps in the Somali Region of Ethiopia.