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Drought in Ethiopia: at Gode hospital, children's health worries
Audio 01:21
Ethiopia is suffering the worst drought in 40 years, according to the UN.
© AFP
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1 min
In Ethiopia, more than 200,000 head of cattle have already died due to non-existent rainy seasons.
Authorities now fear that children are the next victims.
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With our special correspondent at Gode
,
Noé Hochet-Bodin
The only establishment for more than 500,000 people, the hospital in Gode, in the Somali region, is preparing to receive more and more patients suffering from malnutrition.
“What you see is the stabilization center at Gode hospital.
There are three sections for children.
Those who are admitted for malnutrition, then the remission phase and finally the last when they can be discharged from the hospital.
At the moment, 14 patients are admitted
,” explains Dr. Abdullahi Mohamed.
Among them, the young Faamah Abdi who has just arrived in Gode.
He is accompanied by his father Abdi Nour, a nomadic herder who has already
lost almost his entire herd during this drought
.
“
It was because of the water that he had diarrhoea, he was vomiting and he lost his appetite and lost a lot of weight.
We can no longer drink the water on our land, it is too dirty
”, says the father.
“We are preparing to receive a lot of children”
Thirteen million people are threatened by this drought which is hitting the Horn of Africa,
the worst in nearly 40 years, according to the UN,
which is holding its assembly on the environment in Nairobi on Monday.
Last year, the hospital treated 622 malnourished children.
Doctor Abdullahi Mohamaed expects at least twice as many this year: “
From March, we are preparing to receive a lot of children.
If there is no rain at all in March, the number will increase enormously.
For the coming month, we will be on the alert.
»
According to several humanitarians, weather forecasts indicate that as in previous years, rainfall should be low this year.
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Ethiopia
Health and medicine