The unfortunate myth that breast milk alone is not enough for a child’s nutritional needs is strongly embedded within Somalian society. As a result, in a nation where many mothers and children don’t have access to the healthcare and education needed to ensure a healthy pregnancy and infanthood, mothers often supplement breast milk with infant …
Meet Anfa, an 18-year-old Somali woman who recently gave birth to her first child through a treacherous journey to new motherhood. Anfa’s home of Somalia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with one out of 12 women dying from pregnancy-related complications—often because she lacks access to maternal health care. Here, …
With every new day, families fleeing hunger and violence continue to pour into Baidoa, the capital of Somalia’s Bay region, desperately seeking refuge and assistance. Baidoa hosts more than 300 camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) on its outskirts, and in these temporary settlements are more than 400,000 people. Families set up temporary shelters made …
With markets in every corner, signs of Mogadishu’s commercial pulse can be spotted everywhere in the center of town. The market near Safari Hotel, in the Zoobe Junction, is just one example: A cluster of shops and restaurants attract customers from all over. October 14th 2017 – a day that would end in devastation – …
To commemorate World Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28, 2018, International Medical Corps distributed dignitary kits to 40 vulnerable girls and women from an IDP camp in Mogadishu. These kits contain reusable sanitary pads, cotton underwear, laundry and bath soap, and a solar powered light. World Menstrual Hygiene Day aims to break taboos around menstruation …
Nadifu, a 35-year-old mother of seven, lives in an internally displaced person (IDP) camp in Harahar village in Somalia’s Galkayo region. Harhar village hosts more than 15 IDP camps. Nadifu and her children now call this home—a home where their house is a makeshift shelter made from pieces of clothes. The unforgiving drought wiped out …
Meet Maryamo, a nurse who has been working for more than four years at a nutrition stabilization center run by International Medical Corps in Somalia’s southern region of Galkacyo, one of the districts most affected by severe drought across the Sahel. In this community with high food insecurity, Maryamo manages cases of severe acute malnutrition …
International Medical Corps helped residents of Somalia and Yemen celebrate World Water Day on March 22nd, with gatherings at our program sites in both countries that included promoting proper hygiene, sanitation, safe and clean water storage and children’s competitions focusing on the knowledge of good water and hygiene practices. In four districts of South Central …
Qarsoodi is a small village in central Somalia’s Galkayo district. Those who live in the village are hardworking pastoralists who depend entirely on their livestock for their livelihood–and their survival. Not surprisingly, they treasure their animals deeply. Even as drought conditions worsen, they know they must do all they can to provide feed and water …
Dr. Kumar first started working with International Medical Corps in 2011 at the height of the civil war in Libya. He now has responded to conflicts and natural disasters the world over, from Nepal to Haiti, Nigeria, Somalia, and Syria.