200-bed hospital to be established in Somalia
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave instructions for a three-year medical presence and the construction of a 200-bed hospital in famine-stricken Somalia. In the first stage of the three-year plan, a rotation of doctors and nurses will be sent to the region on a voluntary basis to serve the medical needs of people in need. [...]
Possible link between mobile phones and brain cancer; WHO
Lyon, France (Alshahid) -A branch of the World Health Organization said Tuesday that there is a “possible” link between cellphones and cancer, but health experts say the risk may be small and further research is needed to draw a definitive conclusion. In a new report by 31 scientists meeting at the World Health Organization’s International [...]
Somalia:Cholera kills 85 in Somalia;WHO
Mogadishu ( Alshahid) World Health Organization says a cholera outbreak in Somalia has killed at least 85 people and infected dozens of others. WHO spokesman Pieter Desloover says Mogadishu, Afgoye and Baidoa have been hit hardest by the disease. Banadir hospital in Mogadishu alone reported 85 deaths. Desloover says the cholera outbreak was declared in [...]
Kept in chains: Mental illness rampant in Somalia
Mogadishu, Somalia (Alshahid) — Hassan Qasim lies shackled to a wall in a hallway with 25 other patients at a clinic for the mentally ill. He whispers under his breath and spits at his neighbors. Torn and dirty clothes hang off his skinny frame. Doctors say the 25-year-old’s brother and sister were killed in front [...]
Somalis’ Health Department at odds over autism, vaccines
St. Paul, Minn. (Alshahid) — Distrust of vaccines and the mystery behind autism’s causes have created a public health problem in Minnesota. Somali parents of children with autism and the Minnesota Department of Health are at a standoff over vaccines. The parents suspect vaccines have caused autism in their children, while the Health Department [...]
Somalia: Stigma, insecurity hold back HIV fight in Mogadishu
Mogadishu (Alshahid) – Residents of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, are understandably more concerned with dodging bullets than avoiding HIV, but this lack of knowledge means widespread ignorance about HIV prevention, while people who are HIV-positive are often ostracized by their communities. Today, Nasteho Farah Elmi is an active member of an organization for people living [...]
Abode of hope for traumatized Somali women
Mogadishu (Alshahid) -Thousands of Somali women some as young as 16 years old have found an abode of hope at a makeshift medical facility jointly run by the African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu and a grassroots women coalition called COGWO offering counseling and free surgical treatment to correct fistula, an abnormal condition that leaves its [...]
Somalia: Vaccine fears fuel measles outbreak
Bosasso (Alshahid) – The cause of a measles outbreak in Somalia has yet to be determined but doctors say initial suspicions point to “unfounded rumours” that the vaccine could cause HIV/AIDS in children and interfere with their reproductive abilities. “There are false rumours creating fear among parents that the vaccination causes HIV/AIDS and can [...]
Somalia: new clinics to serve 100,000 in Middle Juba
Nairobi (ICRC) – The Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS) has opened two new health clinics in the conflict and drought-affected region of Middle Juba in South Somalia, with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Over 100,000 people in the districts of Sakoow and Banada will benefit, with the clinics focusing [...]
Somali government reopens Martini hospital to the public
Mogadishu (Alshahid)-Somali Transitional Federal Government has on Monday reopened Martini hospital that has been closed after the collapse of the central government 20 years ago. Dr. Adam Haji Ibrahim the Minister of health said the ministry of health doctors who will operate in the hospital were fully prepared and would begin from today when the hospital [...]