Deeqa Ahmed, a resilient mother of five children, including three boys and two girls, chose to remain steadfast in her determination to support her family throughout the drought period of 2022, despite many families from her Hero village fleeing to urban centers like Mogadishu.
“The drought has had a significant scar on my village. Our farmland has not yielded for so long, and our few livestock, which included 17 goats and 9 cows, have died due to thirst and starvation.” said Deeqa.
Hero village is Situated in the semi-arid plains of the Wanlaweyn district in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia, where families like Deeqa’s face daily challenges due to the lack of access to fundamental services such as healthcare. The drought has devastated their livestock and depleted their farmland, leaving them without a dependable source of food or income, resulting in an unending series of struggles for survival.
Ruweyda, Deeqa’s 18-month-old youngest child, had become alarmingly weak and thin due to the food shortage, and poor appetite. The limited frequency and quantity of meals meant that Ruweyda did not receive the necessary nutrients required for growth and immune protection. As a result, when Ruweyda fell severely ill, her health put more strain on the limited food supplies available to the family. The nearest healthcare center located approximately 10 km away was impossible for Deeqa to reach alone with her sick child.
Deeqa’s fortunes turned around when the Shabelle Community Development Organizations (SHACDO) health and nutrition team partnered with Concern Worldwide Somalia to set up a mobile clinic in Hero Village, providing a lifeline to the drought- and conflict-affected population in the hard-to-reach areas. The establishment of the mobile clinic was made possible by the EU Humanitarian Aid, as part of the Caafimaad Plus consortium, which aimed to bring life-saving assistance to those in need, even in the most remote and challenging parts of the country.
On 22 January 2023, Ruweyda was enrolled in the outpatient therapeutic program, where she received a combination of medical and nutritional aid. Meanwhile, Deeqa received education on hygiene practices, feeding, and medication schedules so that she could ensure Ruweyda’s health continued to improve.
With the weekly nutritional and health support from the mobile health workers, Ruweyda’s condition improved significantly. The weekly nutritious peanut paste provided to her helped to boost her immune system, making her less susceptible to illnesses that often afflict malnourished children. Her cheeks began to glow, indicating that she was regaining the weight she had lost due to malnutrition. In addition to the physical improvement, Ruweyda also became more playful and active, showing signs of energy and vitality that had been lacking before.
Deeqa is glad to see her daughter’s health improve and expressed her gratitude to the mobile health workers who had provided the support that helped her daughter to recover.
The mobile site was received with great enthusiasm by the community, who saw it as a lifeline that brought essential healthcare services to their doorstep. With the establishment of the mobile clinic, families no longer had to travel long distances to access healthcare services, which was a significant burden for many families in the community.
Moreover, the community health workers were also provided health education and mobilized the community to participate in healthcare services offered at the mobile clinic.
In the month of April 2023, the team treated 300 children for malnutrition in the area.
