GENDER:
The Somali women are known to be strong. You can find quite some national women groups in the South and inthe North of Somalia.
Female Genital Mutilation:
This is still a common practise in Somalia. Female circumsition is frequently described as an "age old Muslim ritual",when in fact id predates Islam and is even believed to be pre-Judaic. Thereis no mention of it in the Koran, and only a brief mention in the authentic hadiths, which states: "A woman used to perofrm circumsition in Medina" The prophet said to her: "Do not cut severely, as that is better for a woman and more desireable for a husband." But because of this still debated hadith, some scholars of the Shafi school of Islam, consider female circumsition obligatory. The most severe formis known as "pharaonic",or infibulation, at the age of seven or eight, which removes all of the clitoris, the labia minora, and the labia majora. The sides are then sutured together, oftenwith thorns, and only a small matchstick-diameter opening is left for urine and menstrual flow. The girl's legs are tied together and liqids are heavily rationed until the incision is healed. During this primitive yet major surgery, it is not uncommon for girls, who are held down by female relatives, to die from shock or hemorrhaging. The vagina, urethra, bladder, and rectal area may also be damaged, and massive keloid scarring can obstruct walking for life. After marriage, women who have been infibulated must be forcibly penetrated. At this time also, the risks of infection and hemorrhaging are high. During childbirth, the scar tissue must be cut and the opening enlarged, otherwise mother and child may die.
CLAN SYSTEM:
The Somalis have a fervent sendse of belonging to a distinct national community with a common heritage and a common destiny is rooted in a widespread Somali belieg that all somalis descend from a common founding father, the mythical samaale tok whom the overwhelming majority of somalis tracetheir genealogical origin. Genealogy therefore constitutes the heart of the Somali social system and is the basis of their collective predilection to internal fissions and internecine sectionary conflicts as well as of the unity of thought and action among Somalis - a unity that borders on xenophobia.
There are 6 majjor clan - families: The DAROOD (who number over a million), the HAWIYE (Mogadisho, the capital is to all intents a Hawiye city, especially of the Abgaal sublineage), the ISAAQ who predominate in northern somalis, the DIR (who subdivide into 2 branches: the GODABIIRSAY, or SAMAROON, and the IISE). The northwestern city of Boroma and its environs remain a Godabiirsay zone of inflluence and Djibouti is an overwhelming Iise country. Then there are the two largely agricultural clan-families of DIGIL and RAHANWAYN in the inter-riverain lands of southern Somalia.
HEALTH:
The Common Pathologies in Somalia: Without reliable baseline data, it is difficult to compare the nutritional and health status of vulnerable populations over time.. Nonetheless, the common pathologies in Somalia are well known and include the following:
Cholera: Following the identification of cholera in Mogadishu in January, outbreaks have now been confirmed in Lower Shabelle, Gedo, Lower and Middle Juba, and Bay regions. The pattern of this yearŐs epidemic is very different to previous years when cholera hit large numbers of victims in a small number of locations. This year, small- to medium-sized outbreaks are being reported in cities and rural centers across southern Somalia. Operational agencies work out of fixed locations and are unable to respond to outbreaks in other districts and regions. As a result, case fatality rates have been extremely high in some locations.
Measles: Monitoring indicates that outbreaks of measles occur every two to four years. However, there has been an outbreak in Mogadishu for the past 10 months. Although morbidity rates have stabilized, they have not reduced.
Malaria: No dramatic change in malarial morbidity has been reported from health surveillance sites. A seasonal increase is expected following the recent rains. Polio: National Immunization Days were scheduled for Mogadishu between 21-23 May.
TB: No dramatic change in TB morbidity or other respiratory infections has been reported from health surveillance sites, although a seasonal increase is likely following the recent rains.
Leprosy:
Medical Examination of Leprosy Leprosy is often called "a living death" because of the many horrifying effects on the human body. Without the cure, it can leave people deformed and hopeless for the rest of their lives.
Leprosy effects several bodyparts as:
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, an acid-fast, rod-shaped bacillus. The disease mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosa of the upper respiratory tract and also the eyes, apart from some other structures. Leprosy has afflicted humanity since time immemorial. It once affected every continent and it has left behind a terrifying image in history and human memory - of mutilation, rejection and exclusion from society. A cumulative total of the number of individuals who, over the millennia, have suffered its chronic course of incurable disfigurement and physical disabilities can never be calculated. Since ancient times, leprosy has been regarded by the community as a contagious, mutilating and incurable disease. There are many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America with a significant number of leprosy cases. When M.leprae was discovered by G.A. Hansen in 1873, it was the first bacterium to be identified as causing disease in man. However, treatment for leprosy only appeared in the late 1940s with the introduction of dapsone, and its derivatives. Leprosy bacilli resistant to dapsone gradually appeared and became widespread. In 1997, there were an estimated 1.2 million cases in the world, most of them concentrated in South-East Asia, Africa and the Americas. The number of new cases detected worldwide each year is about half a million.
Last year there was a leprosy survey in Somalia and quite a lot of new cases got detected. Leprosy has still a social stigma in Somalia. The people think that leppers are dangerous and that they will eat little children, because to get cured, they believe you have to eat the liver of a human being. Before the civil war all the leprosy patients got collected and the police brought them to Labadaad, a leprosy island in the South of Somalia.