AFGOYE, Somalia, 18 December 2007 -- Hawa Ali, a mother of two, fled fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu last month and found refuge in the makeshift Eelasha Biyasha settlement here. This camp and others like it, along a 30-km stretch between Mogadishu and Afgoye, are now home to some 200,000 children, women and men displaced by conflict.
"I came to this settlement because we couldn't live in Mogadishu anymore," said Hawa. "Some of my relatives were here so I decided to be close to them. When I got here I heard that many children were suffering from diarrhoea, skin itching and even measles."
Concerned that her children might fall sick, Hawa was happy to hear that a health and immunization campaign would be taking place in the camp.
The campaign Hawa heard about was a week-long effort supported by UNICEF through two local non-governmental organizations -- CED and SOPHPA -- to provide some 47,000 children under the age of five with protection from common childhood illnesses, along with vitamin A capsules to boost their immunity.
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