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| Stabilization centre in Garowe july 2017 |
In Somalia, drought is still wreaking havoc. The last rainy season was disappointing and the Somalis are undergoing a new dry period. In the Puntland region, 1.2 million people are affected by the crisis, more than a quarter of the population. 380,000 are critically food insecure and 135,000 have been displaced since January. In Garowe, the capital, the Save the Children organization runs a stabilization center for children under five years of age suffering from malnutrition. In particular, mothers are taught to breastfeed their children.
Djibril is four months old. On arrival, he weighed just over 3 kilos, half the normal weight for his age. Her family lost all her goats, a source of milk. The baby became weaker, especially as his mother Hamdi Mahmoud Dupad had stopped breastfeeding. " I got sick and I was afraid of contaminating it. And then for me it was not important. My mother never told me that I had to breastfeed my children. "
A situation that is not uncommon in Somalia where breastfeeding is a victim of false beliefs." Some people think they do not have enough milk," says Haashim Issack Mire, nutritionist.Others think they are going to infect the child, and there are some who do not know how to do it.Some of the children we had saved came back because of that. So we created a training. "
In a quiet room with mattresses on the floor, Nadifa Abdullahi Alan is one of the nurses who teaches the art of breastfeeding. " We show them the technique, we sensitize them. We are in a food crisis, they have to breastfeed, it will protect the child from diseases. "
Hamdi Mahmoud Dupad attended the training, she resumed breastfeeding her son. " My vision has changed. I will tell my daughters and other women that they must breastfeed. Djibril took 300 grams in a week. The doctors say he's out of business.
Source: Afrique
Source: Afrique