Helpers fight for refugees and locals weakened by hunger
The Garissa region, five hours from Kenya's capital of Nairobi, is among those hardest hit by catastrophic droughts across the horn of Africa. This is where the second medical team, which was sent to the crisis region by the aid organisation LandsAid e.V., has been deployed since 16 September 2011.
The Otto Bock Foundation supported this project, which will take several more months, with a donation of EUR 5,000.
In addition to helping refugees from Somalia who have been weakened by hunger, the doctors and nurses are focusing their efforts on assisting the local population. Their malnutrition is easily overlooked in reports about the masses of refugees pouring into the camps. Even diseases that are normally harmless can have severe consequences for the locals since patients are very weak in many cases.
Diarrhoea, skin disorders and malaria are particularly common. 150 patients a day are currently being treated. Plans are also in place to expand the deployment to other regions. The donation by the Otto Bock Foundation to LandsAid follows cooperation between the two organisations in 2011, which allowed children and youths who fell victim to the catastrophic 2010 earthquake in Haiti to first be fitted with prosthetic arms.
Copyright by Ottobock © 2012
