Our Work in Somalia
In ancient times home to powerful trading empires that dominated the Horn of Africa region, Somalia became independent in 1960 with the merger of British and Italian-controlled territory. After a promising beginning, a series of weak governments, intense clan warfare, and famine have left it one of the poorest, most dangerous places on earth. Somalia today is a failed state, with 1.2 million of its 9 million people internally displaced, another half-million living as refuges outside the country and development slowed to a crawl. According to UNICEF figures, infant mortality stands at 225 per thousand, barely 30% of the population has access to potable water and only 13% of boys and 7% of girls attend school.
Despite these unsettled conditions, International Medical Corps has been operating in Somalia since 1991, when it became the first American non-governmental organization to arrive in the war-torn Somali capital of Mogadishu after the overthrow of President Siad Barre. Today, we administer programs for primary health care and emergency feeding in the northern territory of Somaliland and the more troubled regions of Bakool and Hiraam in south central Somalia, where fighting has disrupted supply lines of food supplements needed to operate both therapeutic and supplementary feeding programs for children under 5. In Bakool, we are also working with about 500 local farmers to develop a system of metal silos to provide them with post-harvest storage for the first time.