Earlier this month, Dr. Hernando Garzón of Davis returned from a three-week volunteer mission to drought- and famine-stricken East Africa, where he and other members of the humanitarian organization Relief International surveyed deteriorating local conditions, in support of nascent aid operations.

Though the team planned to assess both Somalia and Kenya, escalating violence in Somalia precluded a visit there.

Garzón, a specialist in emergency medicine, works for Kaiser Permanente in Sacramento (clinical) and Oakland (administrative). He also serves on RI’s governing board. He has taken five working trips to Africa since 2005, and may return as early as October. Garzón believes it’s one small way he can make a difference.

“As disruptive as it may be for family and work life, when I do this type of work I realize that the average person I’m working with undergoes far more hardship and suffering than I do,” Garzón said.

“It makes what I sacrifice seem so little in comparison. In addition, as much as there are hardships in doing the work, there is also tremendous satisfaction in feeling like I can make at least a small contribution to these huge problems, and alleviate suffering, if only in a small way.”

With the RI team, Garzón visited communities in Kenya, observed conditions there and met with the local authorities, major donors and aid organizations to determine their needs and what might be done to help. In the coming weeks, he said, they will be submitting grant proposals for work in Kenya. Proposals for Somalia already have been filed.

Garzón’s efforts on behalf of RI took place in the context of an ongoing international crisis. A summer drought in East Africa, and extensive conflict in Somalia, have precipitated widespread food shortages in the region, The New York Times reported.

The U.N. has formally declared a famine in parts of Somalia, and warned of critical food shortages in neighboring countries. Thousands of Somali refugees continue to inundate Kenya and Ethiopia, which are ill-equipped to care for foreign nationals in light of their own difficulties.

Kenya, the site of Garzón’s visit, is very poor. According to CIA data, its GDP per capita ranks below North Korea’s, and the national unemployment rate is at least 40 percent. Nevertheless, Garzón pointed out that Kenya and Ethiopia’s cooperation with USAID’s Famine Early Warning System Network monitoring averted true famine in those countries. In contrast, Somalia’s volatile political environment has complicated relief efforts there.

“I think aid organizations are doing everything they can, given the constraints of the political situation (in Somalia),” Garzón said.

Last Saturday, at a summit event dedicated to the food crisis, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to international donors for assistance, characterizing the situation in East Africa as “the worst humanitarian crisis in the world,” with an estimated 13 million people in need of help.

The U.N. News Service reported that $500 million in donation pledges need to be made before the organization’s fundraising goals for East Africa are met.

Though severe malnutrition alone can be fatal, Garzón noted that water and food shortages in East Africa have peripheral effects of concern to public health authorities. Malnourished people are more likely to develop infections, he said, while shortages compel them to migrate in search of resources. When these migrant groups coalesce into camps, he continued, new health concerns emerge, including infectious diseases from inadequate sanitation and hygiene, and epidemic diseases like measles and tuberculosis.

In a written follow-up, Garzón also addressed the problem of high food prices, which he says have exacerbated malnutrition problems in areas of East Africa ostensibly unaffected by the drought. A diminished food supply due to drought has led to higher prices for the food that remains, he explained. Consequently, inhabitants of urban slums, such as those in the capital Nairobi, cannot afford to purchase food that is otherwise available.

Garzón described the issue of potential solutions as “controversial”: some suggest supplying local markets with imported food, to depress prices, while others advocate distributing it to the population for free.

Asked how the general public can contribute to relief efforts in East Africa, Garzón suggested donating to reputable aid groups conducting field work in the region, naming his own organization, International Medical Corps (internationalmedicalcorps.org), and the British group Merlin (merlin.org.uk) as good candidates, among others. Additionally, both medical and other professionals are sought for volunteer work on an ongoing basis.

For more information about Relief International, visit www.ri.org.

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A Kenyan woman holds her severely malnourished child. This was one of the people that Dr. Hernando Garzón of Davis met during a three-week volunteer mission to drought- and famine-stricken East Africa with humanitarian organization Relief International. Dr. Hernando Garzón/Courtesy photo

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This urban slum in Kenya is just one of many that Dr. Hernando Garzón observed during his volunteer mission to East Africa. Dr. Hernando Garzón/Courtesy photo

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Dr. Hernando Garzón stands at the entrance of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Clinic in Davis. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

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