Largest ever lifesaving campaign to reach 1.5 million Somali children
Child Health Days launched to deliver high-impact interventions for children at community level
© UNICEF/07-0004/Michael Kamber
SOMALIA: Two children walk in a crowded street strewn with debris in Mogadishu, the capital. Somalia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and one of the most dangerous for children.
HARGEISA, Somalia (January 1, 2009) — Over 1.5 million children under the age of five and women of child-bearing age across the entire country of Somalia will benefit from a new package of preventive care that UNICEF has begun to deliver in local communities. The campaign of "Child Health Days" was launched in Hargeisa, northwest Somalia, this past Sunday.
In a country with limited social services, weak health infrastructure and a volatile security situation—where one child in every twelve dies before its first birthday—UNICEF and WHO are partnering with local authorities and NGOs to protect children under five against preventable childhood diseases and water-borne illnesses, to reduce malnutrition and to safeguard women against neonatal tetanus in child delivery.
The interventions comprise child immunization against measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and polio; vitamin A supplementation; nutritional assessments; de-worming; the distribution of oral rehydration salts and water purification tablets; breastfeeding promotion; and tetanus vaccination of girls and women aged 15–49.
Somalia's largest child health campaign
© UNICEF/07-0047/Michael Kamber
SOMALIA: A baby is weighed on a scale as a health worker notes her weight on a chart, at the Hannano maternal and child health clinic in Hodan District of Mogadishu, the capital.
Speaking at the launch event in Hargeisa, UNICEF Representative for Somalia, Christian Balslev-Olesen said, “This campaign is historic because it marks the launch of multi-million dollar strategy to improve the survival rates of all Somali children. It is our largest ever campaign and it relies on partnerships for its outreach and its success."
"By working in partnership," added Balslev-Olesen, "we are aiming to reach every single child under the age of five with this high-impact lifesaving package of interventions. Working together, we can protect children and their mothers against preventable diseases. Working together, we are making it possible to improve the lives of every Somali child.”
Success depends on outreach
Messages raising awareness of the campaign have been sent via mosques, cell-phones, radio, TV and loudspeakers, and every Somali family is being urged to take advantage of this health care package. More than 3,600 field teams are taking the campaign to urban and rural areas of Somalia utilizing schools, health centers, mosques and—in remote areas—mobile clinics.
Kaltun, a 28-year-old mother of two, brought her 9 month old son Saad to the launch event be vaccinated. “I want to prevent my child getting measles and other diseases” she said, “My first child is healthier than this baby because he was vaccinated.” Kaltun welcomed the campaign’s community outreach.
After kicking off in northwest Somalia, the Child Health Days campaign will continue in January in northeast Somalia (the semi-autonomous region of Puntland) and central southern Somalia. The second round of the campaign will be conducted in six months time.
