Scores of Somali children are dying from diseases caused by malnourishment. The IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation has been providing medical care at the emergency relief clinics it had set up in refugee camps in the region. The IHH, which is working vigorously to help patients, brought 14 malnourished children who cannot be treated in Somalia to Istanbul, Turkey.
As Somalia goes through the worst drought in 60 years, diseases caused by malnourishment have hit children and the elderly hard. The IHH, which has been providing emergency relief assistance in Somalia where one child in almost every family has died and one in every three children is malnourished, brought the children who cannot be treated at the clinics to Istanbul.
The children landed at Istanbul airport with a stopover in Ankara on Monday night and were taken to Avicenna Hospital in ambulances waiting at the airport. The children aged three to six were accompanied by an adult. The initiative is a joint effort of the IHH, TİKA and THY. The foundation will take the children back to their country after they have received treatment that they could not get in Somalia.
Speaking at Avicenna Hospital where the children are being treated, Deputy Chairman of the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation Yaşar Kutluay said entire Turkey was mobilized to help the Somali people. The 14 Somali children were brought together with cooperation of IHH, TİKA and THY and relief efforts of this sort will continue, Kutluay added.
