UAE intensifies efforts to contain cholera in Somalia

15 August 2011

MOGADISHU - As an outbreak of cholera threatened tens of thousands of people fleeing the famine-hit areas of Somalia to pack into the crowded camps in the country’s capital, Mogadishu, the UAE fortified its medical efforts to contain the spread of the epidemic.

UAE’s mobile hospital continued to provide its ambulatory and medical services to the patients in the makeshift camps in and around the capital.

The Emirati mobile hospital has been welcomed as a great humanitarian service by the people in the region and is a worthy addition to the achievements in the vital initiatives of this kind.

The single hospital in Mogadishu is virtually helpless to cope up with the increasing number of patients being brought into it. According to the UN World Health Organisation, several people have died from suspected cholera cases in the hospital in Mogadishu, and there have been many other confirmed cholera outbreaks across the country.

Since the mobile hospital was inaugurated last week, it has visited the refugee camp in the suburbs of Mogadishu to give treatment to more than 820 patients suspected to be suffering from Cholera.

Cholera is caused by a bacteria that infects the small intestine and is spread through dirty water.

It is easily treated with oral rehydration salts and antibiotics. But many health centres in Somalia lack even these basic supplies. As a result, those who get cholera, especially children, can die of dehydration within days or even hours of being infected.

Since day one of its opening, the mobile hospital continues to receive increasing number of patients, many of whom are women and children.