Turkish charity builds children’s hospital in Somalia

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

REUTERS Photo

A maternity and children’s hospital in Somalia’s capital built by a Turkish aid organization has opened.

Turkey’s Helping Hands International Humanitarian Aid Association laid the foundation of the hospital in 2011 and today the hospital building was completed, Sadik Danisman, the president of the association, said on Feb. 25.        

The 27,000-square-meter hospital in Mogadishu was stocked with equipment and medicine from Turkey.  
      
The facility will provide operations, emergency services, neonatal care, intensive care and management services.        
Danisman touched on a statistic from Humanium, an international child sponsorship NGO, that Somalia’s infant mortality rate was traumatically high, “with an average of 180 deaths for every 1,000 births.”

Somali children mainly die from dehydration and illnesses like diarrhea, malaria, pneumonia and cholera, Danisman added.        

According to the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), Turkey has carried out humanitarian work across over 40 countries on four continents to help those in need in regions hit by earthquakes, floods, fires, civil war or famine.        

The total amount of Turkish aid for Somalia thus far has reached $500 million.