Newly-born Baby Stolen at SOS Hospital in Mogadisho was Found Safe and suspected Arrested

Somali police has found a newborn baby, who was stolen from a SOS Hospital in Mogadishu hours after he was born on April 19 in the capital of Somalia.

The newborn baby boy went missing for the last four days.

Mother Naimo Mohamed and her baby have been reunited.

Mohamed delivered her first baby in assisted delivery and then felt unwell after he was stolen.

Somali police says the baby was found after an operation in Mogadishu.

The police also succeeded to arrest a female suspect and was then taken into police station for interrogations.

It remains unclear the reason behind the abduction of the baby.

Hospital administration is currently reviewing security measures following the abduction of a newborn at its medical facility.

Somali capital, Mogadishu is lawless capital since 1991, when a coalition of warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and Somalia descended into anarchy.

Original article appeared at Mareeg

Trio Sana's Frankincense can put its health benefits to work for you!

Frankincense, an essential oil made from the resin of the Boswellia tree, has at least five known health benefits.

Recent research shows that frankincense, also known as olibanum, may reduce arthritis, improve gut function, alleviate asthma, maintain oral health and perhaps even fight certain cancers.

That is why Trio Sana is bringing its Certified NOP Organic Frankincense Boswellia Carterii from Somaliland to the U.S. market.

"Frankincense has been used for centuries as part of Ayurvedic holistic medicine in India," said Peter Cobain, co-founder of Trio Sana, a health and wellness company based in the United Kingdom. "As one of the largest distillers of frankincense essential oil in the world, Trio Sana uses the freshest and direct sourced resin following pre-purchase analysis to make the finest quality oil on the market."

But what also separates Trio Sana from many other importers is the egalitarian relationship it has with the harvesting community in the Sanaag region of Somaliland.

"We work closely with the community to make sure the area benefits from the commercial relationship," he said. "As we sell the oil, Trio Sana takes a portion of the profits and reinvests it in a fund that is run by the community and benefits the community."

In addition to its frankincense essential oil, Trio Sana also plans to introduce Americans to two new products to help joints and slow aging:

• Kollagenix-Sports, which was developed by using Trio Sana's Natural Nutrient Combination Therapy (NNCT) technique. This process combined marine collagen with the three vital nutrients for joints and muscles to work synergistically together which maximizes their effectiveness in injury prevention and improves recovery time.
• Kollagenix-R, which also employs NNCT, uses marine collagen and combines it with 13 anti-aging vitamins to create a supplement that helps slow down the visible aging process by ensuring that the "reserve collagen pool" is maintained.

"We are proud of how we work as partners with the local community, as well as developing high-quality supplements that help people," Cobain said.

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Can Women Save The World?

Can women save the world? By looking at the life Edna Adan Ismail, Somaliland’s former Foreign Minister and former First Lady, the answer would be a resounding, “YES.” Labeled the ‘Muslim Mother Teresa,’ Edna has taken everything she learned through these prominent positions to save the lives of untold numbers of women and children.

Edna Adan Ismail

As the current director and founder of the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital in Hargeisa, her mission is to help improve the health of the local inhabitants and, even more urgently, to decrease Somaliland’s extreme levels of maternal and infant mortality, which are among the highest in the world. This non-profit making charity and midwifery teaching hospital, which Edna built from scratch, is also training student nurses and other health professionals. “I am just doing what needs to be done,” Edna says, reflecting on her decision in 1998 to sell her home and car, as well as donate her U.N. pension, to fund the hospital.

Edna Adan Maternity Hospital

Officially opened on March 9, 2002, the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital was built on land donated to her by the regional government at a site formerly used as a garbage dump. The region lacked trained midwives/nurses to staff the hospital – as most had either fled the country or been killed during the Somali Civil War, which destroyed Somaliland’s entire health infrastructure. Edna recruited more than 30 candidates and began training them while the hospital was still under construction. Now completed, it houses two operating rooms, a laboratory, a library, a computer center and a university dedicated to training nurses and midwives as well as other health professionals. 

As of 2018, the university hospital has grown to 200 staff members and 1500 students. “Due to our training, our country now has the largest number of midwives per capita, and we have been able to reduce infant mortality significantly,” Edna says proudly. The hospital’s historical survival rate is 75% higher than the national average.

This facility is also the address where Edna calls home, having moved into the only room that had a door and a shower/toilet during construction. “I was born into this,” she says, recalling that, as a child, “the problems of the world came to my father’s door.” Edna witnessed her father, a prominent physician, display compassion, generosity and devotion to his patients throughout her childhood. “His patients came before his own needs,” she recalls. “I brought this level of dedication to my diplomatic career, and now to this hospital.”

The first woman Minister of Social Affairs (August 2002 – June 2003), Edna then became Foreign Minister, and found she was able to more powerfully present the case for supporting Somaliland not only as a diplomat, but as a woman. “Being a woman, I am allowed to be forceful and angry and show sorrow for my people. I am allowed to express pain and sorrow and anger. I can be motherly and I can be tenacious. I can also shed a tear or two,” Edna adds. “I can also share emotions I feel by witnessing the pain and Injustice my country has suffered.” Further, as the Foreign Minister of Somaliland, Edna purposely hosts delegations at the hospital. 

“I do this so that I can prove to everyone that if this site is good enough for my patients, it is also good enough for me to live in, and it is also good enough for those who wish to associate with me.” As the only woman in the delegation, she has also had to remind other dignitaries that she is the head of the delegation. “If I bang on a table or shed a tear, don’t try to appease me, I tell them. When I express anger, don’t tell me to cool down,’ she continues. “Don’t try to impose a different emotion to what I am expressing at that moment. I will know when I want to cool down, and I will tell you what I need. If I wish to show my emotions, it is because I have chosen to do so.”

Yet one of the most memorable stories she tells is of an experience that occurs time and time again, and often just before a woman is about to die. “Since a woman in our society does not have the authority to sign for her own surgery when requiring a Caesarean section, she must have a male (father, husband, brother or son) do it for her. 

Sometimes, when we tell the husband that we must have his consent immediately (because of a time-sensitive emergency) or his wife will die, he will refuse, or will want to wait to decide. But we cannot afford to wait. So I summon a policeman, and on the back of the form I write, ‘I want my wife to die, ‘ when she is in danger of dying without the  surgical intervention that she needs. I then ask him if he wants to sign that instead. The husband approves the surgery for a C-section every single time. If not,” Edna adds, “I would have taken the risk and signed it myself, which could cause me to go to prison if his wife did not survive the surgery. Fortunately, no one has ever called my bluff.”

Yet it doesn’t stop there. “My battle against female genital mutilation (FGM) has been the biggest battle of my life,” Edna says. A victim of FGM herself, she was the first woman to speak out against it. 

These young girls have survived measles, whooping cough, chronic diarrhea and other life-threatening diseases, and when they reach the age of seven or eight, when they are learning to jump and learn and talk…they are subjected to FGM.” “It is not only cutting. It is total mutilation!” she adds. Edna believes that fathers have to be educated about the dangers of FGM as well, so she is working on publishing an animated book about it since so many in her country cannot read.

Based upon so many of Edna’s accomplishments, one would think there wouldn’t be anything she could fail at. But there is. “I want to get my country internationally recognized. That is my unfinished book,” she says. “The world is losing the presence of a democratic country in Somaliland.  We have managed to demobilize our militia with our own resources, we have a functioning, democratically elected government and we generate all taxes from our own country. 

While the international community is spending billions of dollars to try to bring peace in Somalia, they are ignoring the peace we have already achieved in Somaliland. We gain from peace and stability,” she adds, “They gain from lawlessness.” 

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Stop smuggling of substandard goods, Kebs told

Garissa-based Kenya Bureau of Standards officials have been told to stop smuggling by unscrupulous traders and to scrutinise all services and products for quality.

Garissa county commissioner Meru Mwangi said on Thursday that failure to thoroughly inspect products exposes residents to health risks, especially from substandard drugs.

Unscrupulous businessmen always find ways to sneak in contraband, mostly from Somalia.

In most cases, the goods which also include drugs, lack the Kebs certification mark or have not gone through the required standardisation.

The entry of contraband has been blamed on the long porous Kenya-Somalia border as patrolling is a big challenge to security officers.

Speaking on Thursday at a  hotel during a public participation workshop by Kebs, Mwangi said all government agencies should speak with one voice and cooperate closely to ensure quality.

The county commissioner said smugglers will be punished severely.

He said several people have already been arrested and charged in court.

National Standards Council chairman Ken Wathome said they were holding countrywide consultations to get stakeholders' views on how to improve their work.

He urged the public to give their views regarding changes to the Standards Act of 1974.

It has been superseded by events, prompting Kebs to redraft it.

Kebs seeks to ensure Kenya’s standards conform to global frameworks that facilitate trade between us and the world and encourages productivity in manufacturing and services, the chairman said.

Sessions to review the Standards Act are taking place in eight regions and involve both public and private sectors.

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Catalysing Behaviour Change in the Health System for Somali Women

Somalia and Somaliland’s health indicators are some of the worst in the world, with health systems in nascent stages of development in this post-conflict, fragile set of states. Within this climate and culture, women’s health is a particular challenge.

 Population Services International is currently implementing the Demand Creation for Health Services component of DFID’s Somali Health and Nutrition Programme (SHINE). ThinkPlace was engaged to employ a human-centered design process to build the evidence base about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to improving health behaviors among Somali women.

We looked at designing interventions that were focused on driving demand for nutrition, antenatal care and family planning services. 

In order to build a comprehensive evidence base and support knowledge-sharing, ThinkPlace designed an innovative brainstorm platform dubbed the ‘Innovation Lab’.  

The lab brought together users, consultants in nutrition, family planning and ANC sectors, Somaliland public health sector representatives as well as a variety of organisations who are active in the region to together learn what works and participate in designing interventions.  

In addition to encouraging more diverse perspectives and collaborations around designing health interventions for Somali women, the Innovation Labs have significantly contributed towards entrenching the buy-in that is necessary to ensure new interventions can be effectively implemented. 

What we did 

From the initial sprint alone, more than 14 prototypes were built and tested.  

Some of the prototypes we developed during the initial prototyping sprint aimed at driving uptake of antenatal care services included a birth preparedness class, an infant bracelet and an ANC booklet.  

ThinkPlace also designed targeted messaging interventions that would subtly drive acceptance and credibility for the idea of birth spacing by using community influencers such as Sheikhs.  

We developed cook books and cooking competitions to improve consumption of nutritious foods, as well as an innovative iron ingot dubbed ‘Lucky Camel’ which helps address the high rates of iron deficiency among women in Somaliland.  

Developing our ideas 

Since this rapid prototyping and testing process, ThinkPlace has worked with PSI to determine a way forward for each prototype, integrating some with others, conducting further research on some of the topics related to the prototypes, and more. 

This has led to successful new prototypes such as a birth preparedness class which would serve two key functions - preparing expectant women, typically in the first and second trimesters to carry healthy pregnancies and preparing women in the third trimester for delivery. This approach enabled the team to test for opportunities to drive attendance of antenatal classes all through the pregnancy period as well as drive delivery in health facilities.  

ThinkPlace also designed an IVR system as an iteration of the targeted birth spacing messages which was intended to help women to seek counseling and report any health-related emergencies. This system would be linked back to public health facilities, therefore supporting the uptake of health services.  

Designing for behaviour change 

During the research phase, one of the significant deterrents to uptake of health services was recognized as possibility of gossip among health staff.  

To address this, we repurposed confidentiality training into an interactive 'camp' format, whereby the health staff would be invited to a creative workshop (structured as a ‘summer camp’-like, all-day retreat) and use this as an opportunity to creatively learn about the need for confidentiality. Post the session, the health staff would receive certificates and a ‘badge of honor’ which would enable them to be easily identified as a ‘trusted’ confidant.  

Working with local culture 

Our research discovered that the low utilisation of health facilities in this region was partly driven by deep seated cultural customs that prevent positive interactions between healthcare workers and users.  

For example, the Somali language uses the word for ‘cut’ in reference to Caesarean section. The same word is used for slaughtering animals for consumption in the Somali meat-centric diet. This framing naturally caused apprehension towards uptake of this service, even when it was urgently needed to save the lives of expectant mothers.  

In order to tackle this issue, ThinkPlace began to explore opportunities to reframe the Caesarean section using prompts that would make it more acceptable for the process to take place when needed. This included introducing the idea during the birth preparedness class and including expectant fathers into the discussion about this possibility, as early as possible.  

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A different vision for the future of global health: an Oscar-winning film about menstruation, an all-female operating room and 1,000 midwives in Somaliland.

EDNA ADAN, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, EDNA ADAN HOSPITAL AND UNIVERSITY, AT THE 2019 WOMEN IN THE WORLD SUMMIT IN NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 11, 2019.

Growing up in a rural village in Zimbabwe, Elizabeth Nyamayaro observed a disturbing dynamic.

“I saw women do all the hard work and men make all the important decisions. It was the men who decided whether the women should go and seek medical help. It was the men who decided how many children the family ought to have,” she said at the 10th annual Women in the World Summit on Thursday. She was among a fiery group of pioneers in women’s health who gathered to discuss how to change traditions that hold back women and girls.

When she left Africa, she realized that these problems are universal. “In most countries around the world, including here in the U.S., these challenges are so prominent. Reproductive health is a questionable thing that continues to be debated, without even taking account what the woman herself needs,” said Nyamayaro, who is senior adviser to the undersecretary-general and executive director of UN Women.

But how do you change deeply rooted traditions?

Edna Adan Ismail, the founder of a trailblazing maternity hospital in Somaliland, offered crucial insight, saying it starts with using language that resonates with the people you want to reach. For example, she said, some cultures believe that female genital mutilation protects girls from rape. The practice is so ingrained, it’s difficult to rewire people’s thinking, let alone introduce the topic. “You’re talking about genitals, private parts of a woman you don’t normally talk about,” she said, noting that those words are taboo.

“We understand the rights of women to their own body, but my grandmother wouldn’t understand that,” she continued. “When I talk about bleeding, when I talk about hemorrhage, when I talk about inability to pass urine like everybody else, she will be able to relate to that and listen to me. One needs to be convincing, credible and also approach it in a way that you can win, convince and gain credibility in what you’re doing.”

Education is also key to change, she said, describing the progress her maternity hospital, and her country, have made. “This is a country where education of girls was not accepted. To go to school in itself was a bad thing. If you don’t go to school, you cannot aim for a profession, you cannot acquire skills,” she said. “To be able to today have medical schools where 70 percent of the students are female, a country where we have been able to train 1,000 midwives to send through the country in itself is remarkable. When I go into my operating theater and see a female surgeon assisted by another female surgeon, a female anesthetist, a female instrument nurse, a female supervisor, in a hospital built by a female, and everybody combining their skills to save a little boy’s life, that’s what education brings.”

The crowd erupted in applause.

Shalini Unnikrishnan, the head of social impact practices at the Boston Consulting Group, discussed the problem of mistrust when health care providers arrive to help communities suffering from crises, such as the Ebola virus. She pointed out that the problem is on both sides. “It’s not just the communities’ mistrust in the institutions and experts, it’s our mistrust in them to help us design solutions, to help us find ways to tackle the problem,” she said. “We often go in with the best intentions, saying we have the answer, let’s roll this out — not stopping to listen and understand. So trust goes both ways.”

Sometimes people need to get creative to spark change. Documentary filmmaker Guneet Monga said that when women in India began a business manufacturing menstrual pads, they had to tell their husbands that they were making baby diapers — because of the stigma surrounding menstruation. Eventually, as the business became successful and the men understood what the women were up to, they shifted their thinking and felt proud, she said. Monga was an executive producer of the Oscar-winning short film about the women’s entrepreneurial pursuit, Period. End of Sentence.

“It’s been an amazing journey of putting a movie on menstruation on the map,” she said with a smile. “Thanks to the Academy and Netflix, we have an Oscar for a film on menstruation.”

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The man behind Somalia's only free ambulance service

Somalia's capital city - where there are frequent and deadly bomb blasts - only has one free ambulance service, which was founded by Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan 13 years ago.

When he returned from Pakistan, where he had been studying dentistry, to Mogadishu as a fresh graduate he was struck by the lack of ambulances on the busy streets - and people using wheelbarrows to ferry the sick to hospital.

The very few ambulances that did exist and respond to calls came from private hospitals and patients had to pay for their collection.

So not long after his return, Dr Adan decided to start an ambulance service.

I bought a minibus, revamped it and made it accessible for wheelchair users too, he told the BBC.

He started to operate the minibus, carrying the wounded, injured and the heavily pregnant to the hospital.

Such was the demand for the service that he realised it needed to expand and he began frequenting the city's open-air markets and corner shops, looking for potential donors.

I managed to convince a group of local entrepreneurs to chip in and buy us another minibus," he says.

At the time Dr Adan was a part-time tutor at a couple of universities in the city.

"I asked my students if they wanted to save a life and if they did, to donate a $1 (£0.75) a month to help save our brothers and sisters," he says.

Soon everywhere he went, he began to ask people to contribute a $1 a month to help run Aamin Ambulance.

'No government funding'

"Aamin" means "trust" in Somali - and most residents of the city feel it has lived up to its name in a society failed by its politicians.

Today Aamin Ambulance, which survives on donations, has a staff of 35 people. Many of them are volunteers and students, Dr Adan says.

The volunteers are not paid a salary but some of their expenses, such as transportation, are covered.

The service has a fleet of 20 ambulances and a driver for each vehicle.

"We operate on donations. We don't receive any funding or help from the government.

"A while ago, we asked the Mogadishu mayor's office if they could assist us with 10 litres of petrol a day but we are still waiting to hear about that."

'Somalis are very generous people'

But Dr Adan has been able to attract some backing from the United Nations.

"WHO [the World Health Organization] bought us two cars. UNDP donated some walkie-talkies," the 45-year-old says.

"We bought second-hand ambulances from Dubai and had them delivered here. Recently, the British embassy in Mogadishu organised a half-marathon to raise funds for our service.

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24,500 People Receives Healthcare in Balcad, Somalia

Over 24,500 people in Somalia’s Balcad district have received healthcare thanks to a six-month Islamic Relief project.

Poor living conditions and lack of access to even basic healthcare in Balcad, 40 kilometres north of the country’s capital, have led to outbreaks of measles, acute watery diarrhoea, and other infectious diseases.

The scheme addressed the health risks faced by communities by supporting health centres to deliver ‘women-friendly’ services, delivering mobile health clinics, and raising community awareness.

Situated next to a school previously constructed by Islamic Relief, Balcad Health Centre was the focal point of the project, which ensured regular and free access to healthcare for schoolchildren and the local community – especially people facing dire conditions in crowded camps for displaced people.

Medical doctors, nurses and midwives provided much-needed health care, largely focusing on maternal, newborn and child health. Mobile outreach services were also delivered.

“It is great that we are getting free local medical care,” said Nurta Hussein Abdi as she waited with her son, Zakariya, for treatment at the Belcad Health Centre.

“I am a mother of five orphaned children. Their father passed away a year ago, and I could not afford to pay their medical bills. Some of my children were suffering from eczema and fungal infections for years but they are all fine now, after getting healthcare from the Islamic Relief medical team.”

Islamic Relief recruited local health workers to carry out awareness-raising activities in the community. They promoted good health and nutrition practices including pre and post-natal care, hygiene and first aid.

We also gave laboratory and medical equipment to two health centres, helping ensure they can continue to provide much-needed care into the future.

The six-month project ended in December having helped 24,522 people. Islamic Relief began working in Somalia in 2006, and now delivers projects covering education, health, water and sanitation, livelihoods and child welfare.

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Abducted Cuban doctors pictured alive in Somalia

Two Cuban doctors who were kidnapped by suspected Al-Shabaab militants from Mandera last week have been reportedly pictured alive in a forested town of Somalia, six days after their abduction, RTN Somalia TV has reported.

Kenyan government deployed multi-agencies in search for the two doctors who had initially expressed their optimism in working at the dangerous North Eastern region in an interview with a local TV station.

Concerted efforts are being made for their search and rescue by a multi-agency security team. The National Security Advisory Committee has also briefed the Cabinet Secretary of Health, Interior and Defence, who remain seized of the matter, said 

National Police Service spokesman Charles Owino in a statement.
As from Friday, the military deployed the fresh-trained commandos from the Long Range Surveillance (LRS) unit, to assist the police and other Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers drawn from the 1KR battalion in the search.

The men and women from the highly secretive LRS unit carry out difficult and secretive military missions, including gathering information behind enemy lines.
Military helicopters drawn from the Air Cavalry Battalion took over the search and rescue operations on air from the Kenya Police Airwing which flew the body of the slain officer to the Forces Memorial Hospital in Nairobi.

Already, elders drawn from Somali community of Kenya have reportedly crossed over the border to negotiate for the release of the doctors. KDF has been carrying out air surveillance in a bid to rescue the medics.

Cuban Doctors Landy Rodriguez Hernandez and Dr Assel Herrera Correa reportedly sighted alive in the forested Halaanqo area near Barawe four days after their capture," RTN Somali TV reported in a tweet.

The TV station widely broadcasts in Nairobi and Mogadishu and is among the leading media station reporting in Somali language after the BBC Somali Service. The station did not however give further details.
While it's not clear which forces located them in the town which is found at porous Gedo region, KDF team has been leading surveillance to locate the two medics. Nairobi is yet to give the true position on the latest update but the news would be a major milestone in the ongoing rescue mission.
A driver attached to the two doctors was held for another 15 days following request by detectives. Sources indicate that he may have been in contact with assailants, who also killed a security officer attached to the team.

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East African states unite to eradicate female genital cut

MOMBASA, Kenya, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Countries from East Africa on Wednesday signed a declaration to eliminate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and in particular the one that has cross-border dimensions.

Senior officials from Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya signed the declaration at the end of a three-day meeting held in Kenya's resort city of Mombasa.

Senior government officials from the five countries committed to supporting cross-border cooperation by facilitating information exchange on trends and good practices, establishing Standard Operating Procedures for girls and women at risk, law enforcement, and community dialogue.

Enact and harmonize national laws and policy frameworks on Female Genital Mutilation through African Union, East African Community and Inter-Governmental Authority for Development, they said in a joint declaration.

Statistics indicate that more than 200 million girls globally have undergone FGM, including those in 30 countries in Africa.

Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda saw almost one quarter of the global burden of FGM, which means 48.5 million girls and young women, according to data from UNICEF, the UN children education fund.

According to findings from a report commissioned by UNICEF in collaboration with Kenya's Anti-FGM Board, 70 percent of respondents of the survey from Uganda, and 60 percent from Ethiopia, traveled to Kenya to undergo FGM.

Participants committed to eliminate the vice by strengthening regional coordination in the areas of legislation and policy framework, cooperation, communication and advocacy, evidence, research and data.

Kenya's Anti-FGM Board chairperson Agnes Pareiyo noted that factors that have contributed to cross-border FGM include shared traditions, fear of arrest, and lack of proximity to circumcisers, quality and affordability of FGM services, income sources of circumcisers, and absence of strong regional monitoring systems.

The national prevalence of FGM in Kenya has declined from 32 percent in 2003 to 27 percent in 2008 and 2009 to 21 percent in 2014, Pareiyo said.

Despite the decline nationally, she said, the prevalence among some practicing communities still remains high with Somalis at 94 percent, Samburu 86 percent, Kisii 84 percent, and Maasai 78 percent.

The officials noted that FGM is irreparable and irreversible abuse that poses a serious threat to the health of women and girls including their psychological, sexual and reproductive health, which can increase their vulnerability to HIV and adverse maternal and child health outcomes including death.

"Ultimate success of both national and cross-border programs will require continued political will, sustained advocacy and scaled-up programs and investment," said Anurita Bains, the acting deputy regional director for UNICEF.

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Somalia needs debt cancellation now to give its children a chance

Meeting the children at a primary school in Baidoa town, in the southwestern Bay region of Somalia, my heart swelled with joy. As they showed me how they could say the days of the week in English, the teacher beamed, I felt so proud that the world's humanitarian response was enabling these children to have a better future. But when I spoke with 11-year-old Halimo in a makeshift tent at an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Baidoa, I was reminded that our response is still falling far short of providing these children with the future they deserve – a future where they not only survive but thrive.

This week’s Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in the United States provide us a chance to change this narrative and rebuild the country for children like Halimo. As international momentum gathers, it is imperative that Somalia gets all the support needed.

Somalia is one of the most fragile countries in the world. Over 4.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, including 2.6 million IDPs. World Vision and other organisations work alongside the government to provide live-saving assistance, basic services, and livelihood support to those most in need. But to break this cycle of deprivation and crisis response, Somalis need to be able to build their own health and education systems, infrastructure and economy. For a country like Somalia, that is a huge task.

On top of this, Somalia is saddled with $4.6 billion of historic debt. This huge debt and low domestic resources (in 2018, Somalia's government was able to raise some $165 million as domestic revenue) mean it is impossible for Somalia to repay its debt, which means denying Somalis access to concessional loans and grants to develop and strengthen its health, education and build infrastructure. This international development support, if and when comes through, essentially injects new blood to help kick start the rebuild of the country. 

Halimo is one of hundreds of thousands of girls and boys carrying their dreams in their hearts. Hers is to become a doctor so that she can help her community. But those dreams may never come true. Like Halimo, the vast majority of the country’s population were born well after the 1980s civil war when the debt was incurred. The current generation are paying for debt created by regimes that do not even exist anymore. That is why World Vision, along with a broad coalition of Somali and international organisations, is calling for the goodwill of global leaders in cancelling Somalia’s debt.

The good news is that some leaders are listening. In early February 2019, Africa Union Member States backed the call for debt cancellation to enable the Somali government meet its obligations to its citizens.

To the lenders, the cost of action would hardly be felt – but for Somalia the current cost of inaction is unnecessary deaths of children due to preventable diseases cause by the lack of health facilities, water, security and education. All the creditors and the International Financial Institutions have the responsibility to make debt cancellation happen. They can point out the technical obstacles – but where there is a will they can overcome them.

Somalis don’t want to forever be a “humanitarian response” country, dependent on emergency assistance, permanently in crisis. They want to stand on their own two feet, with dignity and pride. Somalia’s children are ready to take Somalia out of conflict and the poverty trap, towards lasting peace, inclusive and sustainable growth and development. But they can only do that if world leaders take off from these children’s backs the debt, unjustly made before they were born, that is holding them down. 

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Toronto board of health approves plan to combat ‘vaccine hesitancy’

Safia Ibrahim walked with difficulty to the speaker’s chair in a committee room at city hall on Monday to explain why she supports vaccination programs.

Safia Ibrahim, a Toronto mother who contracted polio as a small child in Somalia, told the health board Monday about her health struggles and spoke about importance of vaccinations.  (TORONTO CITY COUNCIL / YOUTUBE)

As a 1-year-old child, taking her first steps in Somalia, she contracted polio, which left her unable to walk. It wasn’t until she came to Canada when she was 8 that she was fitted with braces that increased her mobility. But the damage didn’t stop there. As an adult, polio returned with a vengeance and she had to undergo hip replacement surgery. She has arthritis in her elbows from prolonged use of crutches. She falls often, which is humiliating to her.

I believe that we have forgotten the ramifications and effects of these diseases,” said Ibrahim, who has ensured her own children received their vaccinations.

She said that before vaccination eradicated polio in Canada, it was not unusual to meet people who had been crippled by the disease. That’s not the case today.

“If you don’t see it, then it’s out-of-sight, out-of-mind,” said Ibrahim.

Ibrahim was speaking at a meeting of the city’s board of health on Monday. Members voted unanimously to take steps to push back against a phenomenon that has been dubbed “vaccine hesitancy” — a reluctance or refusal to vaccinate.

About 20 per cent of Canadian parents are vaccine hesitant, according to Toronto Public Health.

In 2019 we should not have to reprove science,” said board chair Councillor Joe Cressy (Ward 10 Spadina Fort-York).

The board was unmoved by several presenters Monday who spoke out against vaccines.

Vaccine hesitancy has been identified as a top-10 threat to global health by the World Health Organization (WHO). A recent investigation by the Toronto Star found that nearly 30 per cent of all schoolchildren in Greater Toronto at age 7 are not fully immunized.

Vaccination rates lower than 95 per cent create the potential for an outbreak among those who aren’t vaccinated, including infants.

Councillor Gord Perks (Ward 4 Parkdale High-Park), said that one of his most vivid memories as a child was his infant sister suffering from pertussis, also known as whooping cough, and listening to her cough and struggle to breathe, not knowing if she would survive. He pointed out that graveyards are filled with the headstones of children who died before immunization was widely practised.

I don’t want to live in that world again, said Perks.

Associate medical officer of health Vinita Dubey told the board that 70 per cent of parents have concerns about the side effects of vaccines and 38 per cent believe vaccines cause disease. Other reasons parents don’t vaccinate their children include lack of convenience in accessing vaccines and complacency and also, the perceived risks of disease are regarded as low.

Dubey said that Toronto Public Health already does work to address vaccine hesitancy, by providing vaccines in schools and in community settings, including to those who do not have health coverage.

She said Toronto Public Health plans to work further on a province-wide, real-time electronic vaccine registry that contains reports of vaccines administered by doctors at the time of vaccination — current provincial legislation mandating health care providers to report vaccinations directly to public health is on pause.

A registry will allow for assessment of vaccination rates and make it possible to find hot spots and develop targeted interventions, Dubey said.

As of September, 2017, parents seeking a philosophical or religious exemption from vaccinating their children are required to attend in-person immunization education sessions.

Dubey reported that from January to June 2018, out of 360 participants, 110 completed a survey following the education session. Opposition to immunization declined only eight per cent. Of that number, 79 per cent still intended to seek an exemption for their child.

We have to keep reminding people that vaccines are necessary,” said Dubey.

The measures approved Monday include requesting Health Canada explore avenues to reduce the spread of misinformation and false claims about vaccines and requesting that WHO consider global recommendations, similar to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, regulating direct and indirect advertising, promotion, and sponsorship by anti-vaccine groups and anti-vaccine messages in print, audio, video and online advertisements.

Toronto’s medical officer of health was asked to report back in September with a strategy to address vaccine hesitancy which includes investigating the potential to restrict misleading advertising regarding vaccinations on city-owned land and infrastructure.

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