East Africa Food Crisis - Somalia

Somalia: Improving water and sanitation

The UN had declared famine in six regions of Somalia in the summer. By December 2011, three areas were downgraded from famine to humanitarian emergency, thanks in large part to humanitarian assistance.  However humanitarian needs remain high, with 250,000 women, children and men still at risk of starvation. Overall Oxfam has now reached more than 1.3 million people with emergency aid.

Water, Sanitation and Public Health

• Oxfam has reached 1.3 million people in Somalia with clean water, sanitation and public health promotion to prevent diseases like cholera and acute watery diarrhea (AWD).
   
• In the worst hit areas of Somaliland, Oxfam and our local partners are providing emergency water trucks, bringing clean water to villages where all other sources have dried up. 65,000 people in more than 50 villages are benefiting, and this is the only way they can get water free of charge.
   
• Oxfam engineers also repair boreholes and shallow wells in areas where there is some available water.
   
• Oxfam partners are operating the single largest public health program in Somalia and providing clean water to tens of thousands displaced Somalis in camps outside Mogadishu.

Cash Transfer Program

• So far more than 180,000 people have benefited from Oxfam cash transfers in Somalia. Here's how the cash transfer program works. (pdf)

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