HARGESIA, 17 June 2010 (IRIN) - Children with disabilities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland should be given priority in education, livelihood and health policies, child rights activists said on 16 June, during a ceremony marking the Day of the African Child.
“The physical environment [access to schools and hospitals], attitudes of people and lack of public awareness and sensitization are the real barriers to the development of these children and not their impairments,” said Ali Jama Hassan of the Disability Action Network (DAN), the largest NGO supporting children with physical and/or psychological disabilities.
The theme for the ceremony was Planning and Budgeting for the Wellbeing of the Child: A Collective Responsibility.
“Policies on children with disabilities are not a priority in the country,” Hassan told IRIN. “Some of the change we are looking for is the mainstreaming of the needs of children with disabilities in education, healthcare and livelihoods.”
Ettie Higgins, chief of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) field office in Hargeisa, described the situation of children in Somaliland as “critical”.
“There are several thousand children living in Somaliland with physical and psychological disabilities - but only very limited facilities are available to cater for their needs,” she said. “For example, deaf children come from as far as Mogadishu [Somalia’s capital] to attend the Hargeisa School for the Deaf, since these facilities are unavailable [there]."
Somalia’s infant and maternal mortality rates are among the world’s highest, with the main causes of death being diarrhoeal diseases, malaria and respiratory infections.
“Access to basic services such as primary education, proper healthcare, and safe drinking water is still a challenge in many areas,” Higgins said. “In such an environment, children living with disabilities are often further marginalized by communities in the effort to just sustain lives, and their special needs are not addressed, and they are not given the opportunity to contribute to society.”
This sense of responsibility, Higgins said, should be ingrained in various planning and budgeting initiatives for the welfare of Somali children, “and this especially should also include those children most marginalized - including orphans and vulnerable children, as well as those living with disabilities".
According to Hassan, Somaliland’s constitution denies people with physical or psychological disabilities the right to run for public office, “a clause we have been fighting to have removed from the books”.
Accurate data on the number of children with disabilities in Somaliland is not available, but DAN estimates that at least 10 percent of children in the country have some form of disability.
Hodan Mohammed, 30, mother of two – one of whom is disabled – said she was attending the Day of the African Child ceremony in the hope that her child would in future be treated as any other “normal” child.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=89514
Sunday, June 27, 2010
MALARIA RISK IN SOMALIA DECLINES BY OVER 50%
The United Nations International Children's emergency Fund (UNICEF) said in an emailed statement Friday that the fight Malaria program in the war-torn Somalia has yielded positive results for the past four years, as research shows that Malaria risk in Somalia has declined by more than 50%.
New research commissioned by UNICEF Somalia into estimates of malaria transmission in Somalia indicates a major decline in risk from the disease from 2005 to 2009. This decline has resulted in a nationwide reduction of over 50% in the number of Somalis getting sick or dying from malaria.
"UNICEF and its partners in the Global Fund Malaria Programme for Somalia have worked hard to prevent malaria cases and improve access to effective diagnosis and treatment. While not all the decline in cases can be attributed to these efforts in improved control and treatment, it is gratifying to see that in such a difficult operating environment real positive change is possible," said Rozanne Chorlton, UNICEF Representative for Somalia on the occasion of World Malaria Day today.
The Global Fund Malaria Programme has focused on community-based distribution of long lasting insecticide treated bed nets to those communities living in higher prevalence areas as well as increased training of health workers to enable them to provide effective diagnosis and treatment of malaria.
In most African countries where malaria is common, treatment is normally based on assumptions - without testing - that fever means malaria. More often individuals start taking action either by self medication with drugs bought over the counter or other local remedies from an herbalist. In response to this, it is imperative to devolve capacity to effectively diagnose and treat malaria. But if a fever is not malaria it must also be treated otherwise medical staff are pressured to treat for malaria no matter what the test says.
The approach to train health workers in fever management is aimed at building their capacity to manage other conditions that present themselves with fever that include measles, ear infections, sore throat or pneumonia. By being trained on how to conduct a simple 15-minute rapid diagnostic test, a health worker is able to conduct a blood test to detect if a patient has malaria parasites or not and to provide the appropriate treatment.
"In some instances the true cause of fever may not be malaria and by not getting tested for malaria, individuals can miss the opportunity to treat the real cause of fever," says Ahmed Jama - Malaria Coordinator for the Global Fund Programme in Northwest Somalia ("Somaliland"). "Generally we see that 1% of persons tested in Northwest Somalia actually have malaria while the others are suffering from other illnesses that require different treatment. Our programme aims to ensure all those with fever are treated - but treated for the right disease. "
Financial support to the programme has been made possible through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In 2006, UNICEF introduced the WHO-approved Artemesinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) to all health facilities across Somalia except health posts (the lowest level of facilities). Now the challenge is to devolve treatment further to the numerous health posts. This has proven a significant challenge in a country with no functioning health system and on-going conflict. Training materials have been simplified to a level that can be understood by Community Health Workers.
In the past six months UNICEF has supported the training of 393 Community Health Workers in the management of fever-related illnesses. These workers serve 180 of the estimated 480 health posts across Somalia. Efforts are under-way to expand the network of effective treatment still further. In addition UNICEF has distributed 732,000 long lasting insecticide treated nets over the last two years in malaria prone districts across Somalia. This has contributed to reduction of malaria morbidity. A recent survey indicates that distribution of nets has enhanced coverage to about 45% of households.
"UNICEF will continue to train health workers and supply all health facilities with rapid diagnostic tests for malaria and effective drugs so that people who suspect they have malaria get tested and treated," says Ms Chorlton. UNICEF is committed to the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 6 - Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases - while guaranteeing universal access to malaria prevention and treatment by all the Somali people.
Malaria remains a major public health challenge in Somalia that requires a concerted partnership to maintain the reductions in risk seen since 2005 and prevent its resurgence.
Somalia has been without a functioning central government since 1991 and as the result the country's infrastructures including healthy institutions were completely destroyed due to the long-running anarchy in the lawless horn African Country.
Source: newsblaze.com
Global Voices : Rain in a Dry Land
Follow two Somali Bantu families, transported by relief agencies from years of civil war and refugee life to Springfield, Massachusetts and Atlanta, Georgia. They confront racism, poverty, and 21st-century culture shock as they try to survive in a new country and create a safe haven for their war-torn families. Their poetry, humor, and amazing resilience show us our own world through new eyes.
http://video.pbs.org/video/1513336151/
http://video.pbs.org/video/1513336151/
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
PEACE AND SECURITY IN AFRICA
On 31 August 2009, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), meeting in Tripoli, on the occasion of the Special Session on the Consideration and Resolution of Conflicts in Africa, declared 2010 to be the Year of Peace and Security on the continent; proclaiming in paragraph 9 of the Tripoli Declaration:
“We are determined to deal once and for all with the scourge of conflicts and violence on our continent, acknowledging our shortcomings and errors, committing our resources and our best people, and missing no opportunity to push forward the agenda of conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction. We, as leaders, simply cannot bequeath the burden of conflicts to the next generation of Africans”.
FOR MORE:http://projectdiaspora.org
Photo by Guleed
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
CALL FOR MORE HEALTH RESOURCES IN SOMALIA
UN agency marks Day for African Child with call for more resources in Somalia
Child being fed a ready-to-eat therapeutic food at a displacement camp
“Somali communities, families, parents, local administrations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), donors and international organizations should have a collective responsibility to put the best interests of the child first,” said UNICEF’s representative in Somalia, Rozanne Chorlton.
“This sense of responsibility should be engrained in various planning and budgeting initiatives for the welfare of Somali children” Ms. Chorlton said in a message to mark African Union’s (AU) Day of the African Child.
According to UNICEF, a major impediment to the provision of services to children and women in Somalia is limited revenue.
For example, Somalia needs to spend $35 per person per year to finance a public health system, but the country is among those least able to do so, especially in the south-central region where the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) provides no public funding for health care.
Even where some semblance of local administration exists, such as in the self-declared republic of Somaliland in the northwest and the north-eastern self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, the local authorities are only able to provide 50 cents per person.
The AU’s Abuja Declaration commits African governments to set aside 15 per cent of their national budgets for health. The Somaliland and Puntland administrations spend only between 2 and 3 per cent of their public expenditure on health, according to UNICEF.
“Though there is significant private, community and charitable contribution to health services in the country, public health authorities need to take the lead in making realistic commitments to clearly articulated public priorities within their current financial capabilities so as to attract further funding from donors,” said Austen Davis, the head of UNICEF’s Accelerated Child Survival and Development programme in Somalia.
“It is also vital that the international community finances projects across multiple years feeding into strategically coherent as opposed to disparate short-term projects. Donors urgently need to harmonize and pool their financing with other counterparts to ensure longer-lasting, more coherent and strategic engagement,” he added.
UNICEF noted that existing models of successful public-private sector collaboration in Somalia, which already benefit children, could be enhanced with additional public funding.
“In a country where scarce water resources and uneven distribution exacerbate poverty and inequalities, the public-private partnership approach – supported by UNICEF and its donors – has made low-cost water, sanitation and hygiene services available in urban settings,” the agency said in a statement.
The Day of the African Child is marked on 16 June each year to honour the memory of school children killed in 1976 during a demonstration in Soweto, South Africa, to protest inferior education by the apartheid administration and to demand lessons in their own language.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35040&Cr=somali&Cr1=
Monday, June 14, 2010
THE ECONOMIST: SHOULD FOREIGNERS INTERVENE IN SOMALIA?
FOR: After 20 years, Somalia remains the world's most failed state and recently things have got worse. Thus the motion should not be to stop foreign intervention, but rather to do it better.
...
AGAINST: Foreigners should not intervene in Somalia because international efforts will galvanise the radicals and prolong Somalia's suffering.
...
The international community can help them in two ways. First, the United States and Europe must, immediately, restore funding for humanitarian assistance to Somalia. Food relief may indeed be providing a marginal source of funding to Al-Shabaab, but it is a lifeline to some 3.4m desperate people, and the single visible signpost that the West cares at all about the suffering in Somalia. The decision to cut off most aid will cost lives and will radicalise the population against us. Second, the United States should continue to launch strategic counter-terror strikes against foreign terrorist targets in Somalia. The September 2009 strike against an Al-Qaeda operative, Saleh Ali Nabhan, is a perfect model. Conducted in a remote rural location without civilian casualties, it stirred not a hint of public protest. It is a firm clue that the locals do not object to sensible international assistance in ridding Somalia of foreign parasites attempting to exploit the country's conflict—as long as the innocent aren't caught up in the crossfire.
FOR MORE: http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/529
...
To blame external actors for Somalia's troubles would also ignore how its squabbling, venal, selfish and incompetent leaders have squandered many opportunities to restore some semblance of stability and order. The TFG is only the latest example. It wasted enormous and genuine goodwill by failing to meaningfully reach out and negotiate political deals with clans that control and administer territory. Ministers chosen solely for their clan affiliation failed to deliver those clans. Instead of building alliances with local administrations, the president and most ministers preferred to jet round the world to ask for additional assistance to build capacity and furnish services they are in no position to provide. Protected by AMISOM, the government has even neglected to put its own security in order. Government forces remain badly led and appallingly organised. Because of corruption in both the security services and other ministries, soldiers were not paid or fed. In frustration, the international community has taken over those responsibilities, but not surprisingly many troops have very little loyalty to the government.
The government's disorder is compounded by lack of international unity. The principal international actors—the UN, AU, EU, League of Arab States, the United States and other major donors—do not have a clearly articulate or agreed plan on how to help the TFG and restore order and stability in Somalia. Because of this they lack similar priorities, often do not coordinate their activities and do not speak with one voice. This sends mixed signals to the TFG and allows ministers to pick and choose from separate initiatives.
...
AGAINST: Foreigners should not intervene in Somalia because international efforts will galvanise the radicals and prolong Somalia's suffering.
...
The international community can help them in two ways. First, the United States and Europe must, immediately, restore funding for humanitarian assistance to Somalia. Food relief may indeed be providing a marginal source of funding to Al-Shabaab, but it is a lifeline to some 3.4m desperate people, and the single visible signpost that the West cares at all about the suffering in Somalia. The decision to cut off most aid will cost lives and will radicalise the population against us. Second, the United States should continue to launch strategic counter-terror strikes against foreign terrorist targets in Somalia. The September 2009 strike against an Al-Qaeda operative, Saleh Ali Nabhan, is a perfect model. Conducted in a remote rural location without civilian casualties, it stirred not a hint of public protest. It is a firm clue that the locals do not object to sensible international assistance in ridding Somalia of foreign parasites attempting to exploit the country's conflict—as long as the innocent aren't caught up in the crossfire.
FOR MORE: http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/529
FORGOTTEN CHILDREN OF WAR
Mogadishu: Awil Salah Osman prowls the streets of this shattered city, looking like so many other boys, with ripped-up clothes, thin limbs and eyes eager for attention and affection. But Awil is different in two notable ways: he is shouldering a fully automatic, fully loaded Kalashnikov assault rifle; and he is working for a military that is substantially armed and financed by the United States.CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO ON SOMALI CHILD SOILDERS :-(
For More: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/africa/14somalia.html?ref=africa
Sunday, June 13, 2010
STATE OF PEACE
| Rank | Country | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  New Zealand | 1.188 |  | |
| 2 |  Iceland | 1.212 | | |
| 3 |  Japan | 1.247 | | |
| 4 |  Austria | 1.290 | | |
| 5 |  Norway | 1.322 | | |
| 6 |  Ireland | 1.337 | | |
| 7 |  Denmark | 1.341 | | |
| 7 |  Luxembourg | 1.341 | | |
| 9 |  Finland | 1.352 | | |
| 10 |  Sweden | 1.354 | | |
| See full list | ||||
| 140 |  Congo, the Democratic Republic of the | 2.925 |  | |
| 141 |  Chad | 2.964 | | |
| 142 |  Georgia | 2.970 | | |
| 143 |  Russian Federation | 3.013 | | |
| 144 |  Israel | 3.019 | | |
| 145 |  Pakistan | 3.050 | | |
| 146 |  Sudan | 3.125 | | |
| 147 |  Afghanistan | 3.252 | | |
| 148 |  Somalia | 3.390 | | |
| 149 |  Iraq | 3.406 | | |
For More http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi-data/#/2010/scor
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