Garowe Online (Garowe)
12 December 2008
The health conditions of young children who fled violence in Somalia's capital Mogadishu is reportedly getting much worse, Radio Garowe reported Friday.
Most of these children used to receive free medicines and medical supplies from international aid agencies, including International Mercy Corps (IMC).
An IMC officer who spoke with Radio Garowe on the condition of anonymity said medicines and supplies are especially needed in internally displaced people's (IDPs) camps in the outskirts of Mogadishu.
"Foreign aid groups stopped working in Lower Shabelle, Bay and Bakool regions due to threats," the aid source said, adding that IMC operated health clinics at camps in Afgoye, a district in Lower Shabelle region.
The source complained about an order issued by the Islamist Al Shabaab group, which recently seized much of Lower Shabelle, a region with infrastructure crucial to aid delivery.
He said that aid groups "stopped working about two months ago," a factor he admitted that has contributed to worsening health conditions for vulnerable children at the IDP camps.
Somalia's interim government is powerless to help citizens with health issues, as most of the government's limited resources are spent on fighting against an Islamist-led insurgency.
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