Somalia

Key health facts

Life expectancy at birth: 53 years (women), 50 years (men)
Infant mortality per 1,000 births: 95
Doctors per 1,000 inhabitants: 0,1

Cap Anamur first engaged in Somalia between 1980 and 1994. Further missions took place between 1999 and 2001 as well as between 2011 and 2013. Since 2016 we have been active in the northern part of the country.

Situation in the country

Long drought spells at the Horn of Africa have hit the people in northern Somalia hard. Low or no rainfalls have dried up the land, destroyed vegetation and led whole herds of cattle to die. Following their loss of livelihood, many affected flee their regions of origin and initiate a desperate search for a more hospitable environment with access to potable water and sufficient food. Due to the high numbers of population involved, local programmes and initiatives alone cannot cope with this acute need. The shortage of water and food as well as the lack of a perspective of favourable changes in climate may provoke, in case of absence of international aid, a famine with catastrophic consequences.

Our goal

Supply the local population with clean potable water in order to counteract the consequences of drought both in the short and the long term. Improve the provision of medical care in the north of Somalia.

Our activities

Initially we concentrated on the most acute needs and covered several villages in northern Somalia with water trucking. That way we supplied over 1,200 families with 136,000 litres of drinking water a week. We also performed extensive food distributions along the same lines.

In order to guarantee the water supply in the long run we are excavating huge reservoirs, in which, once their expansion (compacting of the soil, cementing floors and walls, installing roofs) is completed, water can be stored over long periods of time.

With regards to medical care we support a mobile clinic, which covers patients in a wide, rural catchment area. Further, we run a hospital in Caynabo to which we dispatch expert medical staff. In addition to the provision of medical care, we continuously train local staff and supply the hospital with the necessary medicines.

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