7 Mar 2013

SOMALIA / BURUNDIAN TROOPS MEDICAL CLINIC

Burundi’s AMISOM contingent has been in Somalia since 2007 when street battles, mortar fire, and suicide bombings in Mogadishu were at their height. Medics working with the contingent have also been operating an outpatient clinic for SNA and AMISOM at Somalia’s former National University. AU-UN/IST

Posted at: March 7, 2013 1:14 pm

Duration: 3:30

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STORY: SOMALIA / BURUNDIAN TROOPS MEDICAL CLINIC 
TRT: 3:30
SOURCE: AU/UN IST
RESTRICTIONS: NONE  
LANGUAGE: SOMALI/FRENCH/NATS

DATELINE: 4 MARCH 2013, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot, internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Mogadishu
2. Med shot, IDP camp
3. Wide shot, civilians being checked by Somali National Army (SNA)
4. Med shot, people entering the Somalia National University
5. Wide shot, AMISOM Burundian soldier checking people
6. Close up, ticket
7. Med shot, Burundian soldier directing lady to waiting area
8. Wide shot, patients in waiting area
9. Med shot, mother and children waiting to be attended too
10. Close up, woman holding her ticket 
11. Wide shot, AMISOM soldier attending to mother
12. Close up, mother with baby
13. Med shot, AMISOM soldier giving mother directions
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Mana Abdi Mohammed, Resident: 
 "My neighbours were coming here and encouraged me to bring my sick child. They told me that their medicines were good." 
15. Wide shot, pharmacy tent
16. Med shot, AMISOM soldier handing medicine to mother and baby
17. Close up, mother waiting for more medicine 
18. Med shot, AMISOM solider talking to mother
19. Med shot, AMISOM soldier handing medication to mother
20. Wide shot, mother leaving the hospital
21.SOUNDBITE (French) DR. Melance Kazoya, Senior Medical Officer Burundian Contingent:
"When we deployed we realized that there were no health facilities and people had nowhere to go for treatment."
22. Wide shot, AMISOM doctors and nurses attending to a sick child
23. Med shot, doctor attending to the child
24. Close up, doctor looking for the child's vein
25. Med shot, AMISOM doctor attending to a child
26. SOUNDBITE (French) Dr. Melance Kazoya, Senior Medical Officer, Burundian Contingent, AMISOM:
"Most of the cases we treat are infectious diseases, bacterial infections, lung disease, malaria, dehydration and diarrhoea due to the lack of hygiene and clean water. We appeal to different partners to help us and provide the various equipment and medication necessary for us to assist the population."
27. Wide shot, patients queuing outside the pharmacy tent
28. Wide shot, patients collecting medication inside the tent
29. Close up, AMISOM Burundian doctor writing on the medication packet
30. Wide shot, AMISOM Burundian soldiers opening boxes of food
31. Close up, biscuits in the boxes
32. Wide shot, sick patient receiving food items

STORY:

The Mogadishu-Afgooye corridor is home to thousands of internally displaced people (IDP) who fled fighting between the Somali National Army (SNA), and extremist Islamist group Al Shabaab.

Backed by troops serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the SNA forced the militants out of the capital, and most urban centres in central and southern Somalia, in 2011. The most recent victory by the joint forces has been the liberation of the strategic town of Buur Hakba in the Bay region of central Somalia.

This week, AMISOM, which has a mandate from the Security Council, marks the sixth anniversary of its arrival in Somalia.

Although the security situation in Mogadishu has greatly improved in the last 20 months, most of the people in the IDP camps have no access to basic services and nothing but torn-up plastic sheets and other makeshift structures to shelter them from the elements.

Burundi's AMISOM contingent has been here since 2007 when street battles, mortar fire, and suicide bombings in Mogadishu were at their height. Medics working with the contingent have also been operating an outpatient clinic for SNA and AMISOM at Somalia's former National University.

The troops also offer free medical services twice a week, and whatever food they can spare, to IDPs and other members of the community.

Somalia's health sector, like most public institutions, deteriorated during the years of war and lawlessness the country experienced after the toppling of Siad Barre's government in 1991. Medical personnel fled the country and health centres were either looted or left to ruin for over two decades.

People like Mana Abdi Mohammed, who is visiting the AMISOM free clinic for the first time, have nowhere else to go until the new government is able to fill the gap.

SOUNDBITE (English) Mana Abdi Mohammed, Resident: 
"My neighbours were coming here and encouraged me to bring my sick child. They told me that their medicines were good."

Dr. Melance Kazoya, the Burundian senior medical officer, and his staff, are often overwhelmed by the numbers and various needs of the people who come in. 
Although it's an outpatient facility, they have between 25-30 beds for some of the most serious cases, like this boy who has just been brought in. He appears to be severely malnourished and is still unable to walk on his own.

SOUNDBITE (French) Dr. Melance Kazoya, Senior Medical Officer, Burundian Contingent, AMISOM:
"When we deployed we realized that there were no health facilities and people had nowhere to go for treatment. Most of the cases we treat are infectious diseases, bacterial infections, lung disease, malaria, dehydration and diarrhoea due to the lack of hygiene and clean water. We appeal to different partners to help us and provide the various equipment and medication necessary for us to assist the population."

Last year alone, the Burundian medics treated close to 55,000 patients at the clinic and although their medicines and other resources are routinely overstretched, they have continued to open their doors.

Some Somali groups in the diaspora, and local non-governmental organizations, periodically donate medicine to the clinic, but the medics are calling for more help given that the demand for their lifesaving services greatly outweighs their supplies.

In the meantime, the troops are committed to helping their neighbours for as long as they can.

Filed under AMISOM AU/UNIST BURUNDI SOMALIA.