Infant, child and maternal mortality rates in Somalia are among the highest in the world. Many diseases such as AIDS/HIV, malaria, diarrhea exist in the country and cause a different disaster every day. The reason why diseases exist in Somalia is the lack of health clinics, pure water, condoms and mosquitoes. As known, mosquitoes carry malaria and infect humans. This is why they need mosquito nets but they are not able to get these due to poverty. One of the hardest things in Somalia is to find water, especially pure water. Because of drought, people are dehydrated most of time. They don’t consider whether water is dirty or pure. They just drink and then have diarrhea. AIDS is very widespread in Somalia. Since people don’t have any condoms, HIV spreads out and infects people. The people who have been infected by these diseases cannot get any treatment because there is no enough health care, hospital, doctors and nurses. If there is no treatment, death is inevitable.
There is no national government in Somalia. More than 15 years without an effective central government, lawlessness and economic crisis led people to separate into different social groups and clans. The strongest clans have taken abundant agriculture lands, valuable properties etc… and it made weaker clans extremely poor. This extreme poverty has become widespread and large numbers of people are unable to acquire basic food requirements. As Prof. Ali Mahmoud Nur says, “There is widespread food aid corruption, that is why I am calling for the establishment of a special food aid monitoring group — this must include Somalis and the foreigners themselves”(Nur). The consequences of these events are civil wars and Somali pirates. According to a , Somali pirates seized a record 1,181 hostages in 2010, and were paid many millions of dollars in ransom. This is why the (IMB) considers the Somali coast to be the most dangerous stretch of water in the world. This is a very important problem to solve immediately.
To diminish poverty in Somalia, economic crisis should be solved. However, it is not as easy as it sounds because people in Somalia need some loan to embark upon an enterprise. They should be taken help from massive corporations such as World Bank. Actually Work Bank can attempt to do something for Somalia people as Muhammad Yunus Grameen provides interest-free loans to poor people. If they can get some help, poor people gain profit as well. Poverty can be reduced.
To solve health problem in Somalia, international organizations should step in for their lives. The most known organization in the world about health is WHO (World Health Organization). If WHO supplies more health equipments, mortality rates can be decreased, even though they cannot be solved. Actually, new health centers, doctors and nurses are needed and WHO seems the one that can help them in the present time.
The other problem, which is Somali pirates, is the perils of Indian Ocean. They can be a threat for innocent people in cruise ships and poor fishermen. They are usually successful to hijack ships and capture fisherman boots. This is why Somalian lands are very scary for people in the world. However, if UN makes deal with Somali pirates, maybe this problem can be solved. They are pirates because of poverty and if UN can suggest them some better conditions, they can accept. Therefore, both some Somalian people and innocent people can be far away from danger.
In Somalia, educating people seems to be difficult but it is necessary. Especially mothers should be informed about diseases, pregnancy, healthcares and other things. Every year, almost infant mortality is 108.3 per 1000. It can be reduced by explaining them what they need to do. Also, children should be educated in schools about health. Otherwise, they are maybe affected by toxins when they play around.
In conclusion, although the sixth poorest country Somalia has some troubles about their government, economics, civil wars, famine and drought, there are some solutions to make their lives better. To achieve that, some organizations and corporations can attempt to help them.
Work Cited
Abokar, Shafi’i Mohyaddin. “Somalia: Food Aid Stolen From Famine Victims.” Inter
Press Service. Inter Press Service, 05 September 2011.Web. 26 May 2012.
“Rural Poverty in Somalia.” . International
, 13 February 2007. Web. 26 May 2012.
"Pirates seized record 1,181 hostages in 2010 - report." BBC. 18 January 201. Web. 26 May
2012. Available from <http://www.bbc.co.uk>