Doctors, aid workers warn of disease threats to displaced persons in Somalia

Nov 18 2011

Inter Press Service examines how doctors and aid workers in and around Mogadishu, Somalia, "are warning that famine victims in internally displaced camps have become vulnerable to contagious diseases like cholera and measles, as conditions here are ripe for an outbreak." Sanitation and access to food and drinking water are the greatest concerns, IPS reports, adding that "[w]hile international aid continues to be delivered to Somalia, relief efforts at some camps have dwindled or stopped." The news service writes, "The Somali government's Mogadishu spokesman Mohamed Abdullahi Arig told IPS that the government needed help to prevent a possible cholera outbreak and to prevent other communicable diseases from spreading in the camps. 'The government is more vigilant, but our capacity is too little. We need the international community's assistance in this sector,' Arig said" (Abokar, 11/17).