The current outbreak of COVID-19 in Somalia has exposed some of the weaknesses in its health system to rapidly trace, track, test and treat those infected with the virus who remain undiagnosed and undetected. Due to Somalia’s societal norms and high population density in major urban cities self-isolation and quarantine have been a real challenge. This resulted in active transmission in households, which has infected a large number of older people. Because Somalia lacked an early proactive testing strategy for COVID-19, the virus quickly spread. Somalia now leads all East African countries in mortality. The majority of deaths have occurred in De-Martino hospital, the major hospital in the capital Mogadishu city for treating COVID-19 patients. A few ways WHO has supported this hospital include training the health care workers on case management and infection control measures, donating a number of critical hospital and medical supplies, and assisting the hospital to automate its patient registration system. International support for Somalia has also come from United Nations International Office of Migration (IOM), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and USAID. As of recently, only 26% of WHO’s urgent appeal for US$ 21.95 million in emergency response to COVID-19 in Somalia has been funded.
Read WHO/EMRO’s site for more on Somalia’s uphill battle with COVID-19
Read more about WHO’s response to COVID-19