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Somalia: MSF helps address protracted humanitarian crisis in Baidoa
Somalia: MSF helps address protracted humanitarian crisis in Baidoa
By Abdulkareem Yakubu
“Baidoa has been a place where MSF worked for a long time. Today it is struggling with a large number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). There are about 1.1 million people in Baidoa and its surroundings. Of those, nearly 740,000 are IDPs and the conditions they are struggling with are profound”, said Dr Tammam Aloudat, president of MSF in the Netherlands.
Today an estimated four million people, or one in five of the population of Somalia, face emergency food insecurity, 3.8 million people are displaced from their homes, and 1.7 million children under five are acutely malnourished. The protracted humanitarian crisis behind these shocking figures is a result of ongoing conflict, climate-related disasters such as floods and droughts, recurrent outbreaks of infectious diseases and high levels of poverty.
In 2023, Somalia’s second city, Baidoa, suffered extreme climatic conditions, including the worst drought in 40 years and floods related to El-Niño – a climate phenomenon associated with extreme weather events. Baidoa large numbers of displaced people – around 740,000 of the city’s one million inhabitants have been displaced from elsewhere in the country – and continues to receive new arrivals, with more than 27,049 displaced people arriving in Baidoa already this year. This has put a massive strain on the city’s already limited resources, particularly on water and sanitation services. As the rainy season approaches, the risks increase of outbreaks of waterborne diseases, including cholera outbreaks.
When they fall sick or need medical care, many displaced people in Baidoa struggle to reach a health facility. “My sister was having labour pains but I could not take her to hospital to get medical care,” says a 23-year-old woman living in a camp in Baidoa. “Our biggest challenges are travelling on roads made impassable by flooding and insecurity as well as the high cost of transport. We need better access to hospital through ambulance services and good roads.”
Maternal and infant mortality rates in Somalia are among the highest in the world, largely due to people’s limited access to medical care, exacerbated by droughts, floods and heightened conflict. Displaced women and children living in camps are particularly at risk. With only two hospitals in Baidoa catering to the growing number of displaced people, there is an urgent need to strengthen primary health services to enable pregnant women to access essential care, reduce late referrals and encourage women to give birth in medical facilities rather than in potentially unsafe conditions in their homes or shelters.
MSF has been supporting Bay regional hospital in Baidoa since May 2018 to address the healthcare needs of women and children, reduce infant and paediatric mortality, and prepare for potential disease outbreaks. MSF teams provide a range of medical services to mothers and children in the hospital as well as through community-based clinics and through vaccination campaigns targeting pregnant women and newborn babies.
“We are making our services more efficient by building semi-permanent structures in seven outreach locations, where we are providing basic antenatal care, treatment for diarrhoea, respiratory tract infections and malaria, health promotion activities and referrals,” says MSF head of programmes Dr Pitchou Kayembe.
It is not only in Baidoa that health services are struggling. The humanitarian crisis and the rising numbers of displaced people are putting pressure countrywide on healthcare providers, including aid organisations. As well as increased patient numbers and growing costs, the provision of medical and humanitarian aid has been disrupted by insecurity.
“We urge all humanitarian organisations in Baidoa to work in a coordinated manner to address the unmet needs of displaced people in terms of food, shelter, clean water and access to healthcare, and to invest more in strengthening capacity to respond ahead of the upcoming rainy season,” adds Dr Kayembe.
According to UN-OCHA, 6.9 million people in Somalia need humanitarian assistance in 2024, including 5.2 million targeted for aid. The humanitarian response plan necessitates $1.6 billion in funding, currently experiencing a funding gap of $1.4 billion. The few humanitarian organisations in Southwest state of Somalia that are addressing the needs of displaced people lack funding and require better coordination to optimise the available resources.
Despite cuts in humanitarian funding observed in Somalia, MSF remains committed to continuing its work in Somalia, with a focus on Southwest state, which has just one referral hospital and two general hospitals for the entire region.
“We are seeing lots of media coverage about emergencies like Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, all of which are catastrophic and require humanitarian assistance and attention, but that must not come at the cost of less visible emergencies or continued protracted crises such as that in Somalia,” concluded the President of MSF- Netherlands, Dr Tammam Aloudat.
ENDS
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organisation dedicated to providing medical assistance to populations in distress, including victims of natural and manmade disasters and armed conflict. For more than four decades, MSF has helped address the humanitarian and health needs of Somali communities. In 2023, MSF teams worked in Hargeisa, Sool, Galkacyo North, Galkacyo South, Baidoa and Dhobley, treating more than 2,000 children for malnutrition, 15,635 patients for acute watery diarrhoea and providing 204,531 outpatient consultations. Currently, MSF teams are actively engaged in responding to health needs in Galkacyo North, Galkacyo South and Baidoa.
Abdulkareem Yakubu, is the Field Communication Officer at MSF and could be reached on:
Email: comms-officer@somalia.msf.org
Phone: +254 702 069 958
Somalia: MSF helps address protracted humanitarian crisis in Baidoa
Nine PAP Foreign Scholarship Beneficiaries Bag Master’s Degrees From UK Varsities
•••771 to Graduate in Nigeria in 2025
•••Otuaro Hails Scholars’ Performances
By: Michael Mike
Nine students awarded foreign post-graduate scholarships by the Presidential Amnesty Programme have graduated from their master’s degree rprogrammes in universities in the United Kingdom.
The successful scholars are the first graduates in the offshore post-graduate scholarship deployment to UK institutions by the PAP Administrator, Dr Dennis Otuaro, for the 2024-2025 academic session.
They graduated from the Anglia Ruskin University, University of Dundee and The University of Law with master’s degrees in cyber security, data science and engineering, law, construction and civil engineering management, project management, and ICT.
Also, 711 undergraduate and post-graduate scholarship beneficiaries are expected to graduate from universities within Nigeria this year.
The PAP, on Wednesday, 3 December, 2025, organised a graduation reception for the scholars in London.
Otuaro has congratulated them on their successful graduation, stressing that they completed their programmes in record time which shows the seriousness they had put into their studies.
He said they have justified the Federal Government’s investment in their education with their successful graduation, and urged other beneficiaries not to be distracted in their academic pursuits.
“We congratulate these scholars on their successful graduation. It shows that they took their studies seriously. That is what we demand of every scholarship beneficiary, whether at the undergraduate or post-graduate level”, Otuaro said.
He reiterated his unwavering commitment to expanding the scholarship scheme to create more opportunities for indigent students of Niger Delta extraction to access higher education with a view to closing the human capital development gap in the region.
Otuaro said it was for this reason he deployed 3800 beneficiaries in-country in the 2024-2025 academic year, and increased the figure to 3900 in the 2025-2026 academic session with 200 for foreign scholarships.
Otuaro has so far deployed 7700 students for the PAP scholarship scheme within Nigeria in less than two years.
Within this period, also, he has also deployed 162 students from the region for post-graduate programmes in targeted disciplines in the UK universities.
According to him, this is in conformity with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu for the Niger Delta, who has given unprecedented support to the PAP because of his sincere love for the area.
The PAP boss said, “Our decision aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR for the Niger Delta. We will continue to create more higher educational opportunities for students from indigent backgrounds in our region.
“We are also deepening the implementation of the programme’s mandate in informal education and other areas for the sustainable peace and socio-economic advancement of the region.”
Nine PAP Foreign Scholarship Beneficiaries Bag Master’s Degrees From UK Varsities
Sunshine Joint Venture Infrastructure Limited Established for Realization of Ondo Project
By: Michael Mike
Sunshine Joint Venture Infrastructure Limited has been incorporated to seamlessly allowed for the Refinery and Free Trade Zone in Ondo State.
A press statement on Thursday read that: “In furtherance of our commitment to the execution of these two major projects – Refinery and Free Trade Zone in conjunction with the Ondo State Government, the joint partners have taken another giant step by incorporating a joint company, namely – SUNSHINE JOINT VENTURE INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED – as the vehicle to be used in executing these projects. A move that further reinforces the sincerity of purpose and total commitment of the funding partners to move ahead together as a united front.
According to the release by Wale Adekola on behalf of the JV, the Sunshine Joint Venture Infrastructure Limitedwill, going forward serve as the vehicle to work with the Ondo State Government through the Ondo State Investment Promotion Agency (ONDIPA) in the implementation of the executed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs).
The statement added that: “In moving the projects forward for implementation, the JV team met in Dubai to finalize the funding modalities and put in place structures and plans for the commencement of activities for ground breaking and community engagements. These initial activities are aimed at complementing the 50th Anniversary of the creation of Ondo State and the one year anniversary of the election of the Executive Governor of the Sunshine State, His Excellency, Chief Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa CFR.
At the Dubai meeting were key officers of the JV Company, including: Messrs SALEHI FARHAD; ZAHERI NAVID; EGHBAL KORDJAMSHIDI; SAHEED ZAHERI; DR. STEPHEN DIKE; HENRY OWONKA AND MRS. NAMVAR MARYAM.
The statement further informed that, plans have been concluded to mobilize the relevant contractors working with the locals and host communities to put up structures that will host the information center, architectural models to showcase the projects on offer and facilities that will serve the team. All these are being planned with ONDIPA to execute the relocation and accommodation of the host communities that are likely to be affected by the projects and create a seamless transition that will engender peaceful co-existence and harmonious relationship with our host communities.
The JV company further reiterated its commitment to work with Ondo State Government (through ONDIPA) to change the infrastructural landscape of the Sunshine State and for mutual benefits.
Sunshine Joint Venture Infrastructure Limited Established for Realization of Ondo Project
Edo: Seven suspected bandits arrested along Benin-Agbor Road
By: Zagazola Makama
Seven suspected bandits were arrested along the Benin–Agbor Road in Edo State during stop-and-search operations, security sources confirmed.
Sources told Zagazola Makama that the suspects, all Fulani youths, were intercepted after being offloaded from a truck at about 1800 hours on 2 December 2025. A search revealed pictures of assault rifles, including AK-47s, on their mobile phones.
Upon interrogation, the suspects claimed to have travelled from Adamawa State. Investigations are ongoing for the possible recovery of actual firearms and to determine their involvement in criminal activities.
Security agencies have urged members of the public to report any suspicious movements to help prevent criminal acts in the area.
Edo: Seven suspected bandits arrested along Benin-Agbor Road
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Nine PAP Foreign Scholarship Beneficiaries Bag Master’s Degrees From UK Varsities
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