SCA provides aid for Somalia refugees

UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, is working intensively to provide hundreds of thousands of people fleeing from fighting and drought in Somalia with supplies.

SCA is contributing to the health and dignity of women and girls by donating 1.6 million feminine towels, which will be distributed in refugee camps.

Civil war and the worst drought in 60 years have impacted twelve million people in the Horn of Africa. Approximately 875,000 people are taking refuge – mainly in neighbouring countries – of whom almost 180,000 have fled to Ethiopia. Women are a particularly vulnerable group in the current Somalia emergency, and the provision of sanitary materials is crucial to the health and dignity of women and girls.

“The assistance needs in the Horn of Africa are enormous,” comments Hans ten Feld, regional representative of UNHCR for the Baltic and Nordic Countries. “Thanks to the generous contribution by SCA, our staff will be able to distribute sanitary supplies to even more Somali women who have fled into Ethiopia to escape drought, famine and fighting.”

The 1.6 million feminine towels donated by SCA will be handed out at the Dollo Ado complex in Ethiopia where UNHCR has four refugee camps, including Hilaweyn which was opened at the beginning of August.

“It feels only right for SCA to provide assistance in the extremely difficult situation that has arisen in the Horn of Africa,” says Kersti Strandqvist, senior vice president of corporate sustainability at SCA. “After food and water, access to hygiene products is a necessary priority to avoid disease. It is extra important in a situation involving a lack of hygiene and sanitation.”