Programs & Projects

Somalia and Kenya

Health Improvement

• Mercy-USA for Aid and Development is assisting malnourished children and their families in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle and Hiraan Regions.  M-USA, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP), has set-up eight supplemental and therapeutic feeding centers that, from January 2007 to January 2010, have examined and treated about 44,150 malnourished children.  These children and their families also received take home food rations provided by UNICEF and WFP.
  
                    
  
  This project is providing nutrition support and health services for children, pregnant women and nursing mothers, as well as emergency and supplemental food rations for children and vulnerable families.  This program is also preventing disease through the cleaning of drinking wells and the immunization of children against measles, distribution of vitamin A, and the prevention of malaria through the distribution of approximately 20,600 insecticide-treated bed nets since January 2007.
  
     
  
  
   
• In August 2009, Mercy-USA for Aid and Development and the Kenyan Ministry of Health (MoH) - with the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as UNICEF and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) - set up fifteen sites in the Kajiado District of Kenya to treat malnourished children under five years of age, as well as pregnant women and nursing mothers. Over a one-year period, Mercy-USA expects to treat and consul approximately 3,300 children and 5,000 women. This life-saving nutrition program is being implemented in primarily pastoral (livestock herding) communities affected by a prolonged drought.

As of January 31, 2010, about 2,398 children under the age of five have been admitted into the selective feeding program, 665 suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and 1,773 with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). In addition, 144 pregnant women and nursing mothers have been admitted into the program.  The children with SAM are given ready to use therapeutic foods like Plumpy’Nut weekly, while those with MAM are given UNIMIX biweekly. Both are specialized food for malnourished children.

• Mercy-USA operates four Mother and Child Health Clinics (MCHs) that, from January 2009 to January 2010, have treated approximately 44,400 women and children, including about 24,450 children under the age of five.  These MCHs have also immunized approximately 8,100 children (including about 6,550 under the age of one) and more than 2,060 women, including expectant mothers.  Mercy-USA's MCHs have provided vitamin A, iron and folic acid to about 12,630 women and children, as well as providing OB/GYN services to approximately 7,040 women.  Medical services provided include prevention and treatment of malaria, diarrhea and other infectious diseases, immunization, pre-natal and post-natal care, as well as health education.  Health education activities focus on training and promoting awareness of best practices at the household level to prevent common illnesses and infections.  USAID and UNICEF are supporting these clinics.
  
  The four MCHs are located in Middle Shabelle (in the town of Gambole/Shimbirole; operational since 2007) and in Hiraan (in the towns of Bo'o and Halgan, both operational since 2007, and in the town of Jalalaqsi; operational since April 2009).
  

• From January to June 2009, Mercy-USA's Health Post in the Nucman camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) treated approximately 5,020 IDPs (including about 1,930 children). In 2008, Mercy-USA established this health post, which is providing immunization, pre-natal and post-natal care, and other health services to the 400 IDP families present in the Nucman camp.  During April and May 2008, Mercy-USA, with funding from the Italian NGO COSV and the European Union, supported two camps (Marino and Nucman) for IDPs with emergency water and sanitation services through the construction of 2 wells and 10 latrines for 1,000 IDP families - about 6,000 persons.  Additionally, Mercy-USA organized hygiene and sanitation awareness campaigns for families in both camps.
  
   
• Mercy-USA for Aid and Development works to prevent the spread of malaria through the distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) and the treatment of patients infected with this deadly and debilitating disease.  Since 2001, Mercy-USA has distributed over 28,960 ITNs to families with pregnant women and children under age five in Jilib and Hiraan.  Bed netting is a very effective method of preventing malaria infection.  UNICEF has supplied us with the nets.
  
    
  
   

• Since 1994, Mercy-USA has been undertaking a well-recognized TB treatment and prevention program in Somalia.  This program now consists of four M-USA specialized treatment centers with public education and community outreach.  The program also includes training of nurses and other health care professionals in TB treatment and prevention.

  Opened in 1994, Mercy-USA’s center in Mogadishu was the first specialized TB treatment facility to begin operation in Somalia after the outbreak of civil war in 1990.  M-USA’s second center opened in the northeastern city of Bossaso in 1995, and the third began in 2005 in the northern city of Las Anod.  Mercy-USA’s fourth center opened in the northern city of Buhodle on the border with Ethiopia in 2008.  The four centers are supported by a sub-grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM).

  These four centers, which have a cure rate of about 80%, treated approximately 1,000 TB patients in 2009.  M-USA utilizes the most effective TB treatment strategy, the Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) method. In addition to treatment, our centers educate their local communities about TB prevention.

  Since 2007, M-USA’s TB centers are also providing HIV/AIDS and STI testing, treatment and counseling.  In 2009, approximately 2,750 persons were tested, treated and counseled at Mercy-USA’s centers.  This project is being supported by UNICEF and GFATM.

  Additionally, through an agreement with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), M-USA’s Bossaso and MogadishuCenters are providing food for TB patients and their families.  Since 1994, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been supplying M-USA with all TB medicines free-of-charge.
  
  
  

• From October 2008 to February 2010, Mercy-USA dug, repaired and rehabbed 87 wells in Somalia.  Thirty wells were dug and rehabbed in the Middle Shabelle region, 21 more were dug/repaired in the Hiraan region, 8 wells were rehabbed and dug in Middle Juba, 8 wells in the Galgadud region, and 20 wells in the Mudug region.
  
  These 87 vital water sources are now providing safe drinking water to communities with populations totaling approximately 174,000 persons, as well as to over 230,000 livestock.  Many of the beneficiaries are pastoralists or agro-pastoralists and thus depend on raising and herding livestock to make their living and indeed for their very survival.
  
  
   
  
  Since 1997, Mercy-USA has played a vital role in providing safe drinking water in Somalia, digging and repairing 182 wells.  Communities with a combined population of over 440,000 persons are benefiting from this safe water program.
  
  
   

• From August to December 2007, Mercy-USA, with the support of UNICEF, carried out a water and sanitation project to assist 6,000 persons living in eight villages in the Eldher and Mesegawein Districts of the Galgadud region.

  This project involved the digging of 11 new wells, as well as the rehabilitation of nine damaged ones and the installation of hand pumps at all 20 fresh water sources.  M-USA also constructed 200 sanitary latrines and provided chlorine to the villages, as well as bar soap and water purification tablets to individual families.
  
  In addition, Mercy-USA trained 100 persons from the eight villages in hygiene and sanitation awareness and promotion.  The communities were also mobilized to dig eight garbage collection pits, one for each village, and assisted in organizing clean up campaigns.

• On March 24, 2007, Mercy-USA held an opening ceremony to celebrate the construction of our new tuberculosis (TB) center in Bossaso.

The guests present included: the Vice-President of Puntland (a self-declared autonomous area in northeastern Somalia, of which Bossaso is a part) His Excellency Mr. Hassan Dahir Mohamoud, the Minister of Health Dr. Abdirahman Sa’id Mohamoud, the Minister of Information, the Minister of Ports & Fisheries, the Governor of Bari Region (of which Bossaso is the capital city) and the Mayor of Bossaso among many other Puntland government officials.  Representatives of UN agencies such as UNICEF, WFP and WHO and international and local NGOs, as well as community elders and local businessmen were also present.

Mercy-USA has been carrying out a very successful TB treatment and prevention program in Bossaso since 1995.  We wish to thank the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, as well as many of our individual private donors for making this new center a reality.

March 24th was also World TB Day, an annual event that helps to focus attention on one of the major disease killers in the developing world, especially in Africa (including Somalia).  Every year, TB kills almost 2 million persons worldwide.


 

• In 2005, Mercy-USA, in collaboration with the Eye Unit of Kikuyu Hospital in Kenya and Arafat Hospital and Zam Zam Foundation in Somalia, operated on approximately 2,200 cataract patients in Mogadishu. All of these patients are now able to see.
  
  
   
• Since 1997, M-USA has played a vital role in providing safe drinking water and controlling cholera in Somalia.  Mercy-USA, with UNICEF support, continues to chlorinate 62 water sources (24 wells, 36 water tanks and 2 ice factories) around Mogadishu and 41 wells in Jilib District.
  
  Since 1997, Mercy-USA has played a vital role in providing safe drinking water in Somalia, digging and repairing 148 wells, including 25 wells so far in 2009.  Communities with a combined population of over 400,000 persons are benefiting from this safe water program.
  
  
   
• During 2003 and 2004, Mercy-USA for Aid and Development assisted over 7,000 inhabitants of villages near Jowhar in the Central Shabelle region of Somalia to develop a safe and sustainable water supply system.  The objective of this activity was decreased risk of morbidity and mortality from waterborne diseases among children, women and the elderly.
  
  Under this project, M-USA, in partnership with the local communities, dug one deep well, built watering canals for livestock, and constructed water tanks.  An electric pump and kerosene-operated power generator were placed with the well for a stable, rapid and large-volume flow of water.
  
  While community residents have access to the well-water free of charge for normal usage, user fees are being charged to livestock owners coming to the area to water their animals.  These fees are funding the operation and maintenance costs associated with sustaining the water supply system.  After covering all of these expenses, any surplus revenue is placed in a community development fund that is supporting educational initiatives and community infrastructure improvement projects.
  
  
   
• From 1998 to 2002, Mercy-USA helped WHO to carry out annual polio eradication campaigns in Jilib District that immunized approximately 143,000 children against polio.
  
  
   
• In 2002, M-USA provided 60 HIV/AIDS orphans at the Child Rescue Center in Sotik, Kenya (about 150 miles southwest of Nairobi) with a variety of materials to support their education, provide for their shelter and improve the hygienic situation at the center.
  
  These orphans are now benefiting from new classroom furniture, including tables and individual desks and chairs.  M-USA also distributed 60 new beds with all bedding items, and provided construction material to build two new restrooms.
  
  
   
• In 2001, Mercy-USA, in partnership with the local charity Dagoretti Health Community Services, rehabilitated ten wells in the Dagoretti Division of Kenya (near the capital of Nairobi).  Many of the 70,000 residents of this area now have access to safe and sanitary drinking water.

Education

• Since January 2007, Mercy-USA, in partnership with the local community, has been providing daily breakfast and lunch to over 500 pre-school, kindergarten and primary school children in two schools in the Kariobangi slum area of Nairobi, Kenya.  The objectives of this program are to improve the children’s nutrition and to increase attendance, reduce dropout rates and improve overall academic performance, especially among girls.  Below is specific information on the participating schools:

  Watoto Weto School
  This school focuses on orphans, whose parents died from HIV/AIDS. Started in the year 2003, it has a total student population of approximately 230 children.
   

  Kariobangi Day Nursery School (KDNS)
  This school was established as an initiative by the community self-help group. Currently, it has a student population of approximately 280 children, ranging from 3 to 6 years of age.

  For many of these children, the two meals provided by Mercy-USA are the only ones that they consistently eat daily.
  
  From March to July 2008, Mercy-USA has provided the children at KDNS with 250 new chairs, repainted 60 other chairs and 70 tables and installed new playground equipment.  The children now have a slide, seesaw and five new swings, as well as a repainted climbing frame.  During 2007, KDNS and Watoto Weto received new kitchen utensils and serving containers; M-USA also repaired damaged kitchen counters.
  
  During 2006, Mercy-USA repaired the kitchens and food storage rooms in six other schools in Kariobangi and installed new jikos (locally-designed, relatively inexpensive and efficient wood and charcoal burning stoves) in four of the schools.  These six schools are attended by over 8,000 children, who now have improved and more sanitary kitchen facilities to prepare their daily meals.
  
  
   

Economic Growth and Income Generation


 

• In December 2008 and January 2009, Mercy-USA assisted 60 small farming families in the Buloburte District of Hiraan by distributing generators, water pumps and water hoses for irrigation.  Forty-eight of these families have been displaced by fighting in Mogadishu and other areas, while the other twelve families are from the host community.  Mercy-USA also assisted them in installing the new irrigation system.  Water is now pumped from the river to the small farms, while hand dug canals carry the water throughout all sections of these farms.  The objective of this project is to allow the beneficiary families to increase their crop production, which will provide food for their daily consumption, as well as excess production to sell at the market so they can purchase other necessary items for their children.
  
  
                    
  
  
                       
  
  
                                                                         

• In 2005, M-USA assisted 100 tsunami-affected families in the devastated district of Haffun to restart their small fishing businesses.  Mercy-USA provided these families with nets, hooks, anchors, buoys and other necessary equipment to allow them to support themselves once again.
   

• In 2001, M-USA distributed 132,000 pounds of corn and bean seeds to 4,800 drought-affected family farmers in the Mandera District of northeastern Kenya.  The harvest from these seeds helped relieve food shortages for these families and others in their communities.
   

• During 1999, Mercy-USA distributed 5,000 fishing kits to the same number of families living along the Juba River in the Jilib region.  World Concern donated these items.
   

• Through a 1999 grant from WFP, Mercy-USA rehabilitated 900 feet of the main road linking Jilib and Mogadishu.  The repair of this section of road has greatly improved travel between the capital and the southern part of the country.
   

• During 1999, Mercy-USA distributed 10,000 vegetable seed kits donated by World Concern to the most vulnerable family farmers in Jilib District.  In 1998, with the support of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and CARE International, Mercy-USA provided 44,000 pounds of maize seed to vulnerable farmers in the same region.

Food and Shelter
 

• In February and March 2009, Mercy-USA, with funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), provided household kits to 2,500 internally displaced families (about 15,000 persons) residing in 20 villages in Bala'd District north of Mogadishu.  Each kit contained 3 blankets, 1 plastic sheet, 2 sleeping mats, 1 kitchen set (1 cooking pan, 2 plates & 1 plastic washing basin), 18 bars of soap and two 20-Liter jerry cans.  In June 2008, Mercy-USA, with funding from CARE International and USAID, provided identical household kits to 3,000 internally displaced families (over 18,000 persons) residing in 12 villages in the same district.

• In November 2007, Mercy-USA distributed sorghum (an important grain staple) and cooking oil to over 7,000 persons (including 4,500 children) left homeless by recent fighting in Mogadishu.
  
   
• During 2006, Mercy-USA distributed food aid to approximately 11,000 persons in Somalia and Kenya affected by severe drought.  In addition, M-USA trucked fresh drinking water to over 1,700 persons and 5,000 livestock threatened by this prolonged drought in Somalia.  Click here for detailed information on this emergency response program.
  
   
• In 2004, Mercy-USA for Aid and Development distributed food packages to 740 drought-affected families in the village of Mesegawein in the central Galgadud Region of Somalia.
  
   
• During 2000, Mercy-USA provided food packages to over 7,200 drought-affected families living in the Mandera District of Kenya and the Mergaga Refugee Camp in Somalia.  A health team from M-USA’s Tuberculosis Treatment Center in Bossaso, Somalia also examined the Mergaga camp residents and dispensed vitamins and essential, life-saving drugs.
  
   
• In 1997 and 1998, M-USA provided over two million pounds of food, 30,000 blankets and 4,000 water-carrying containers to flood victims in southern Somalia.  WFP and UNICEF donated most of these items.

• Mercy-USA periodically provides food and other essential items to persons in need.

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