Direct Aid, represented by the State of Kuwait, at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States in Cairo, participated in a “conference on drought, food security and the ability to adapt to climate change in the State of Somalia” with the participation of representatives of the Somali government, Somali, Arab and international organisations concerned with the humanitarian situation in Somalia, and representatives of member states In the League of Arab States, Direct Aid was represented by an official invitation addressed to the association by the League of Arab States and the United Nations last December 2022, in implementation of the decision of the recent Arab summit held in the State of Algeria, “to support the Federal Republic of Somalia in facing the drought disaster and its severe nutritional effects on the Somali people “. From the Direct Aid Society, Dr Abdul Rahman Al-Muhailan – Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Mr Nabil Al-Terkait, Deputy Director General of Direct Aid Society, attended.
This call came within the framework of the Society’s historical contributions to the Somali issue from 1992 until the recent drought crisis that Somalia witnessed in 2022, as Direct Aid contributed to saving more than 6 million people from the Somali people during that period. Direct Aid worked throughout those thirty years to Provide various relief aids, which included: In the famine of 1992, 4,325 food baskets were distributed. In the floods of 1997, 1,570 tons of food were distributed, in addition to opening six health centres, repairing 25 km of roads, rehabilitating farmers to serve 3,000 families in 22 villages, reclaiming 34 km of irrigation canals in 35 villages, and building 110 homes for 660 people. In the 2005 famine, 14 therapeutic feeding centres were opened to treat more than a quarter of a million children and mothers, 450 tons of urgent relief were distributed, and 12,000 cubic meters of clean water were provided to 12,000 families. In the 2008 drought crisis, food relief was provided to 31,500 beneficiaries, shelter and medical relief to 6,000 beneficiaries, and 2,280 m3 of clean water was supplied to 180,000 beneficiaries. In the 2011 famine, 20 therapeutic feeding centres were implemented, providing 1,500 meals per day monthly and 7,343 tons of foodstuffs to 82,500 affected families. In the 2016-2017 drought crisis, Direct Aid provided the Somali people with seven therapeutic feeding centres for 632,000 children and mothers and eight mobile health centres, which provided treatment for more than 45,000 beneficiaries, in addition to providing 10,000 tons of food, medicine and blankets, and digging 12 deep wells to provide water. Clean water, provide 7,700 tons of food and medical supplies by air freight and send a ship loaded with foodstuffs, infant formula, blankets, tents and plastic water tanks to save 17,500 families. And recently, during the past year, 2022, 9,900 food baskets and 415 tanks of clean water were provided. During 2023, Direct Aid aims to dig 100 deep artesian wells and establish six feeding centres to combat malnutrition and growth retardation diseases that follow drought crises.