Health

The health care system in Somalia remains weak, poorly resourced and inequitably distributed. Health expenditure remains very low and there is a critical shortage of health workers. As a result, around 3.2 million women and men in Somalia are in need of emergency health services.

According to WHO health indicators in Somalia are among the lowest in the world. The immunization coverage rate for measles is 46% countrywide and even lower in hard to reach areas. Only one in three Somalis has access to safe water; one in every nine Somali children dies before their first birthday; and the maternal mortality ratio is 850 deaths per 100 000 live births.

An estimated 1.1 million displaced people live in sub-standard conditions. There is a high risk of measles outbreaks due to crowded settlements and a high risk of acute watery diarrhoea (AWD)/cholera outbreaks due to limited access to basic sanitation and hygiene services. The most affected areas include settlements for displaced people in Mogadishu. Around 3800 cases of AWD/cholera were recorded in the first nine months of 2014, with 74% of cases among children under five years of age. Measles outbreaks occurred in several regions of Somalia in 2014. Around 9000 suspected measles cases were reported between January and November, more than twice the number of cases in the same period in 2013. Polio continues to threaten the lives of Somali children.

A well-coordinated vaccination campaign reached more than four million people across the country in 2014. As a result, only five polio cases were confirmed up to November, compared to 194 cases in 2013. However, there are an estimated 420 000 children in insecure areas not under government control, who have not been reached by polio vaccination programme since 2009.

In 2020 one of our major humanitarian activities include extensive health services provided to poor communities affected by climate change such as floods, famine and lack of support in IDPs camps, villages and host communities in some of the cities under Juba Foundation geographically covered areas