TRÓCAIRE IN SOMALIA
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A beneficiary stands in line awaiting to be attended to.
THE ENTIRE WORLD IS HURTING FROM THE COVID-19 CRISIS, BUT IT’S IN PLACES LIKE SOMALIA WHERE YOU SEE HOW THE PANDEMIC IS TIPPING PEOPLE WHO WERE ALREADY DESPERATELY POOR OVER THE EDGE. BY PAUL HEALY
Somalia
is a country already struggling due to conflict and the awful impact of climate change. Now a global pandemic has been thrown in on top of everything else. It is a country I dearly love, and it breaks my heart to see the people facing so many challenges to their very survival. Ireland knows only too well the devastation caused by COVID-19. Over 2,000 people have lost their lives, while many thousands more have lost their livelihoods. In countries like Somalia, the real damage being caused by the pandemic will only be known over the next few months. That is because it is over the coming months the food crisis sparked by this pandemic will be felt. Trócaire runs four hospitals and 24 outreach centres in Gedo, a region of Somalia a little bit larger than Ireland. Despite its size, we are the only healthcare provider in Gedo. REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021
We put a huge amount of effort into containing the virus. We trained over 400 staff and issued protective equipment to all of them. Our community health workers visited 125,000 people. We were able to do a lot of testing and contact tracing. It was a real challenge, but we managed it. Like in Ireland, people in Somalia lost their jobs and lost their ability to sell products. Unlike in Ireland, there is no safety net in Somalia. People unable to earn income are left with nothing. As well as casual labour being gone and markets being closed, remittances from abroad also collapsed. Just as Irish families used to rely on money being sent home from Britain or America, so many Somalis rely on those remittances. The global economic crisis has really been felt by those families.
On top of everything, a very bad drought meant that crops didn’t harvest. There has been very little rainfall this season. It should be raining now and it is bone dry. We’re now seeing a perfect storm of crises. Children are being re-admitted to Trócaire medical centres with severe acute malnutrition and that is a massive concern. What is even more alarming is that some children are being admitted
There has been very little rainfall this season. It should be raining now and it is bone dry. We’re now seeing a perfect storm of crises. to our centres with malnutrition, staying with us for six weeks and then being readmitted again shortly after. It shows how deep the crisis is.
