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Somalia: Health Cluster Floods Situation Update No. 2 (as of 28 November 2019)

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Somalia
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Health Cluster
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Overview

On 22 November 2019, the Food and Agriculture Organizationmanaged Somalia Water and Land Information System (SWALIM) indicated that the Deyr rains continued into the second month of the season with a significant reduction. This notwithstanding, heavy rains of more than 100 mm are expected in Hiraan, Bay and Bakool regions, with Lower Juba and Bari regions likely to receive little or no rains by early December.

The Somalia Floods Response Plan, November 2019 – January 2020 estimates the total number of people affected by the floods at 547,000, of whom 370,000 were displaced. In Belet Weyne district, an estimated 45,500 households (273,000 people) have fled their homes. Farmland, infrastructure and roads have been destroyed in some of the worst-hit areas in Hirshabelle, Jubaland and South West States. At least 17 deaths have been reported.

Cluster Priorities

The Health Cluster priorities are to save lives, the Health Cluster priorities are to prevent avoidable mortality and morbidity due to flood driven environmental health hazards and displacement through access to health care and preventative measures.

The Cluster is scaling up the capacity for emergency and essential health-care services in areas where IDPs are located, and through mobile and outreach services for reach those in remote areas.

Health services will include case management, reproductive health care, immunization and psychosocial support to the displaced and affected population. Scale-up includes provision of medical supplies and medications. Disease control actions, to mitigate flood driven diseases such as AWD and cholera, will aim to strengthen and scale-up early warning disease surveillance and case management capacity; including deploying rapid response teams for outbreak investigation and threat detection.

The Cluster will conduct health and public awareness actions to improve population health practices to prevent disease. Overall, the Health Cluster is targeting 200,000 people in the priority floodaffected districts.