Somalia: A nurse steps up for mothers and children
Sadia Osman, 28, is a Nursing Supervisor at the nutrition centre in Cadaado General Hospital in Galgaduud Region, in Somalia’s Galmudug State. It is the district’s only hospital and serves a catchment population of 90,000 from Cadaado and surrounding villages.
Driven by a strong desire to tackle malnutrition among children, Sadia was one of several young graduate health workers who volunteered at health facilities in Mogadishu, including at a mother and child hospital in Wadajir district.
As drought deepens in Somalia and humanitarian needs grow, health workers like Sadia are among the core responders. “It was my dream to step up for children and mothers, to fight against malnutrition and related illnesses,’’ she said. “It pains me to see mothers taking care of the children alone, many of them separated or widowed because the father died.”
Sadia’s job is to ensure that the hospital’s malnutrition patients are well attended to.
“In most cases, the mothers cannot feed their children,” she explained. “In our outreach services, I encourage the nurses to educate parents on the importance of feeding their children.”
Struggling to cope
With 62 staff (33 female, 29 male), the hospital is the biggest in Galgaduud Region, providing referral services for neighbouring towns such as Cabudwaaq, Dhuusamarreeb and Guri Ceel.
It also serves people displaced by drought and conflict in parts of Galgaduud Region, many of whom are too poor to care for their children.
But the hospital is now struggling to cope with high admissions. In September, it admitted 57 children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and 134 children with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). This is slightly lower than the 64 children with SAM and 144 with MAM admitted in August, but the hospital has only 84 beds. These children are part of the 1.8 million Somali children under age 5 who will likely face acute malnutrition through mid-2023, including over 513,000 children who are expected to be severely malnourished.
With funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Save the Children supports the hospital with essential supplies, solar power and incentives for medical personnel. The local community maintains the hospital’s infrastructure, but it needs more support. For example, the hospital ran out of emergency trauma kits in September after admitting nearly 30 seriously injured patients following clan clashes in the district.
Sadia hopes that others will use their skills to support Somalia. “I want to read for a second degree, gain more knowledge and serve the Somali people better,” she said. “I encourage other young people to come out and support the Somali health system in any way possible.”