Emergency health unit

When 16-year-old Lily’s house was flooded in the early hours of the morning, she fled with her family to a nearby school, which was converted into an evacuation centre. Many of the family’s possessions were washed away and the walls of one of their buildings were knocked down. Many crops and seeds were lost from the family farm, making it difficult for the family to find food in the flood’s aftermath.While she was at the evacuation centre, Lily joined Save the Children’s Child Friendly Space and received training in handwashing and water treatment from the Emergency Health Unit. Lily is passionate about teaching her sister and other children in her community how to wash their hands to prevent infectious disease such as cholera.

In July 2025, a diphtheria outbreak swept through Puntland, claiming 27 lives and infecting 482 people. Save the Children and the Puntland Ministry of Health, with funding from Gavi, launched a rapid emergency response deploying 35 mobile vaccination teams across four hotspot districts. The intervention reached over 48,000 individuals, immunising more than 40,000 children and successfully containing the outbreak. This is the story of the health workers, parents, and communities who came together to protect their children from a deadly but preventable disease.

The MAMI approach addresses gaps in child nutrition services, managing malnutrition risks in children under 6 months and their mothers, and integrating into health systems. Community nutritional screening was conducted to identify and treat acute malnutrition. Additionally, safeguarding sessions were held with the community, where participants demonstrated understanding of protection against exploitation and abuse, and the importance of treating everyone with dignity. Save the Children's complaint mechanisms were also explained, including safe and confidential channels for reporting incidents, with priority given to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) cases.