"[As a woman] I instinctively know what to do to make babies, mothers and older people feel better,” said Maymun Hussein Duale, the nurse in charge of the centre.

For Maymun, the current situation is a far cry from 10 years ago. Back then, she had first started with Jilab centre and had to deal with local customs that discouraged pregnant mothers from coming to the centre for services. Maymun remembers it as a difficult period that gave her life-changing lessons, which she now shares with health workers under her supervision and even those outside the centre.

Over the years, Maymun and her all-women team have raised awareness of the centre’s services.

Mohamed Abdi Ali is the leader of Jilab site for internally displaced people, where Jilab Health Centre is located. He believes that the centre is doing exemplary work for the site’s inhabitants, especially women and children.

"I like how the centre is good for visiting patients, particularly mothers and their children,” he says. "Women and children are relatively vulnerable, and they are more open to female health workers during patient history-taking.”

The centre runs an integrated health and nutrition programme and is supported by humanitarian partners that provide medical and nutrition supplies, and incentives for staff. It serves nearly 28,000 people, and about 35 patients receive treatment every day. Some people are referred to Garowe General Hospital, but many are unable to get there due to a shortage of ambulances.

At the centre, a nurse examines two-year-old Shakib. He was brought in by his mother, Fatima Bashir, a mother of seven who lives in Jilab. Shakib was unwell for a week, with no appetite.

"Let’s measure his mid-upper-arm circumference and do tests,” said the nurse. Maymun tried to feed Shakib. "Al hamdulillah, his appetite is okay,” she said. "He is eating food.”

Fatima and her children at Jilab Health Centre. Photo: OCHA/Mursal Ali.

The centre is the only source of health care for displaced people like Fatima, whose husband died a year ago. A few months later the family left Biya Cadde, a village in Nugaal Region, and moved to Jilab, due to drought.
Fatima now sells firewood to provide for her children. "We lost 30 out of 40 goats to the drought,” she said. "We were left with no option but to seek assistance.”

The drought is Somalia’s longest in more than 40 years. It has displaced more than 1.4 million people, and an estimated 6.5 million people face high levels of acute food insecurity. Wasting and starvation persist, and an estimated 1.8 million children under age 5 are acutely malnourished across the country.