Moalim Hassan Mohamoud”Thanks to Allah and the SAACID team”

Moalim Hassan Mohamoud is among the many TB patients who are registered at the SAACID Abdul-aziz TB Treatment Centre in Mogadishu City. He is 41 years old, married, and has 10 children. Professionally, Hassan used to be a Quranic teacher in a village near Jowhar City in Middle Shabelle Region. Moalim, his wife and his 10 children all moved to Mogadishu as a displaced family in December 2013, when floods devastated their farming land and destroyed their house and his Quranic Madrasa. In the aftermath of the floods, Moalim’s family’s living conditions worsened, as local families could not pay the tuition fees for his Quranic studies, as they too had been hit hard by the flooding.

None of Moalim’s family members has ever had Tuberculosis in their life, and the whole family tended to ignore the existence of this sickness, as many of the villagers in their home town culturally believed that TB was a curse and was incurable.

Moalim had a lot of coughing, especially late in the night, and he tended to hide his cough in the daylight, but he was increasingly unable to conceal his coughing late with the cooler change-of-season air. One early morning, a neighbour who had previously been treated for TB at a SAACID TB centre visited Moalim and informed him all about the free SAACID TB clinic services, and how he was completely cured of his illness. The neighbour suggested to go with him to a SAACID clinic and Moalim accepted.

At the TB clinic Moalim undertook a sputum examination of three separate tests, and all were diagnosed as TB positive. The staff at the centre immediately initiated a course of treatment, comprising drugs and food prescriptions. Every individual registered as TB patient is entitled to receive a monthly family food basket of selected food commodities, including 25 kilos of cereal, 10 kilos of pulses, 10 kilos of CSB, and 5.2 litres of vegetable oil. Moalim was also screened for malnutrition and was found to be malnourished. He was registered as a malnourished patient, which gave him access to additional food.

“I have been taking this course of treatment for 5 months now and felt great recovery. My appetite has improved; my weight has increased; and I have gotten sound night sleep with no more coughing. Thanks to Allah and the SAACID team”. The medical staff gave me health awareness education, which I appreciated; and I will deliver the same information to my family, and the rest of my community.