Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


    October 28, 2011

Malnutrition Rates Drop Sharply at Somali Refugee Camps in Ethiopia

   Peter Heinlein | Hilaweyn Refugee Camp, Ethiopia
   Dr. Monica Thallinger treats a severely malnourished child at the Phase
   Two emergency ward of the Doctors Without Borders health clinic at
   Hilaweyn refugee camp, Dollo Ado, Ethiopia, October 26, 2011.
   Photo: VOA - P. Heinlein
   Dr. Monica Thallinger treats a severely malnourished child at the Phase
   Two emergency ward of the Doctors Without Borders health clinic at
   Hilaweyn refugee camp, Dollo Ado, Ethiopia, October 26, 2011.

   Sprawling refugee camps have sprung up recently in the parched deserts
   of East Africa to handle the mass exodus from famine-stricken Somalia.
   Aid agencies at first scrambled to keep pace as countless starving
   families arrived seeking help. Child mortality rates skyrocketed to
   several times above emergency levels. A massive infusion of
   humanitarian resources, though, now appears to be turning the tide.
   Dr. Monica Thallinger treats dozens of severe malnutrition cases each
   day at Hilaweyn, the newest of four Somali refugee camps in Ethiopia.
   "This is a severely malnourished child who did not have proper intake
   of food for a long time, so we're giving a certain type of milk,
   because the body cannot handle to take food in the beginning," said
   Thallinger.
   Doctors Without Borders
   When Doctors Without Borders opened the Hilaweyn clinic in a still
   unfinished corrugated metal building in August, children were dying of
   malnutrition at the rate of more than one a day. Two months later, the
   clinic's emergency coordinator Aria Danika said they treat 1,000 cases
   a day, and only one child has died in the past two weeks.

   Doctors Without Borders Emergency Coordinator Aria Danika consults with
   parents of a malnourished child at the Hilaweyn refugee camp, Dollo
   Ado, Ethiopia, October 26, 2011.

VOA - P. Heinlein

   Doctors Without Borders Emergency Coordinator Aria Danika consults with
   parents of a malnourished child at the Hilaweyn refugee camp, Dollo
   Ado, Ethiopia, October 26, 2011.

   "The crude mortality rate is under 1% right now. And this information
   we get, it's indicated when we talk to the community, when we do the
   grave count on a weekly basis, we see that the death rate is
   decreasing, but malnutrition is still prevalent," said Danika.
   Hilaweyn is one of four camps at Ethiopia's Dollo Ado complex, home to
   125,000 refugees fleeing Somalia's famine and the harsh rule of Islamic
   extremists known as al-Shabab.

   Newly arrived Somali refugee children receive their first hot meal of
   cereal at a feeding center run by Save the Children USA at the Dollo
   Ado refugee reception station, Ethiopia, October 26, 2011

VOA - P. Heinlein

   Newly arrived Somali refugee children receive their first hot meal of
   cereal at a feeding center run by Save the Children USA at the Dollo
   Ado refugee reception station, Ethiopia, October 26, 2011

   5,000 more recent arrivals are in a temporary shelter waiting for
   completion of a fifth camp that will be ready in a few weeks.
   Security becomes priority
   30-year old Amina Salat Saman arrived at Dollo Ado days ago on a
   donkey. She proudly displays the new baby son she delivered soon after
   reaching the refugee reception station. She said her family survived
   the famine, but made the hazardous journey from Somalia when security
   conditions suddenly deteriorated.
   She said they were frightened when fighting broke out in the
   neighborhood between government troops and al-Shabab fighters.
   The Hilaweyn camp coordinator, Samuel Emmanuel said security is
   becoming as important as starvation in Somalis' decisions to become
   refugees.
   "They say we are lucky to get peace and security. Now they are stable,
   they are sleeping without any suspicion about the surrounding. This is
   better for them to be here rather than hearing the sound of weapon,
   hearing when someone is slaughtered in front of their home," said
   Emmanuel.
   Top-notch health care
   Camp residents admit they also are drawn to refugee status by the
   prospect of quality health care, something unheard of in rural Somalia.
   At the Hilaweyn clinic, where the malnutrition death rate has fallen so
   sharply, Dr. Thallinger is tending to another scrawny baby girl who has
   been brought back from the brink.
   "She's going to survive... We just have to take time for her to get her
   appetite back," said Thallinger.
   With one ear on the radios that bring news of the Kenya military
   offensive into al-Shabab held territory, camp residents wonder if peace
   may soon allow them to return to their homeland. They know life in a
   refugee camp is an existence of nothingness, but they also know that
   the availability of food and health care compare favorably with the
   hardship they have known in Somalia for the past few years.