By Frank Nyakairu
NAIROBI (AlertNet) - Waterborne diseases triggered by heavy rains have contributed to a sharp rise in malnutrition among children in conflict-torn Somalia with medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres treating a record number of cases in one northern area in the past two months , MSF said on Wednesday.
More than 1,300 children attended MSF feeding centres in south and north Galkayo, some 750 km north of the Somali capital Mogadishu in October and November alone, the aid group said.
"The number of new malnourished children is alarming," MSF's Head of Mission for Somalia, Karin Fischer Liddle, told AlertNet by telephone.
"This is the highest number of malnourished children MSF has ever treated in the area," she said, adding that the figure was almost half the total number of children treated for malnutrition in that area in 2008.
"What's more, we are concerned that not everyone is able to reach us," Liddle said.
MSF has treated 4,800 malnourished children this year in Galkayo, a town with an estimated population of 100,000.
Liddle attributed the high number of malnourished children to a spate of heavy rains that followed a long drought.
"When it started raining a lot of children suffered from waterborne diseases, which worsened the situation," she said.
MSF, which runs several clinics in Somalia also said its clinics were overwhelmed with children suffering acute diarrhoea and weight loss.
However insecurity in the lawless Horn of Africa country has prevented its staff from operating outreach services.
Somalia has lacked an effective central government for 18 years and since 2007, over 1,900 people have been killed in the fighting that also displaced 1.5 million from their homes.
The conflict and several consecutive crop failures caused by drought have left families with even less food to feed themselves. The United Nations says some 3.6 million Somalis --
or about half the population depend on aid.
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