Senator Frist visits Dadaab camps

Mark Engman is with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF's Public Policy & Advocacy team.Heart surgeon, U.S. Senator, Senate Majority Leader, chairman of a nonprofit - Bill Frist has played many roles during his life of public service. But his most important role right now is that of humanitarian. Dr. Frist joined Dr. Jill Biden (wife of Vice President Joe Biden) on a trip to see the effects of the famine affecting 12 million people in the Horn of Africa, and to draw attention to the plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees in the camps of Dadaab, Kenya. The delegation visited intake centers on the Somalia-Kenya border, where more than 1,500 Somalis arrive each day desperately seeking food and a safe place to live. Dr. Frist also met with nurses and doctors in health clinics, and saw how basic treatments like oral rehydration salts and therapeutic foods are pulling children back from the brink of death. As a doctor who has delivered medical care in refugee camps on a number of trips, Dr. Frist understands that providing age-appropriate health care to vulnerable and malnourished children and adults is crucial to combat rapidly spreading disease and death. He focused on vaccinations, because infectious diseases like polio and measles are especially dangerous to children whose immune systems are compromised by severe malnutrition. Dr. Frist noted the important partnership involving UNICEF, WHO, and the Kenyan Government to provide measles and polio vaccines, Vitamin A, and deworming medicines to all children in the region. Since his visit, Dr. Frist has used his status as a public figure to underscore two basic messages for Americans. The first is that we are making a difference in saving the lives and futures of children in the Horn of Africa. The second is that even tiny investments can make a huge impact - a measles vaccination costs under $2, and therapeutic feeding can cost as little as a dollar a day. Dr. Frist's willingness to use his time, resources, and reputation on behalf of the most vulnerable children in the world is a testament to his own compassions, and also reflects the generosity of Americans who respond when a catastrophe affects children, no matter where they live. In case you missed it, Dr. Frist talked about his impressions from the Kenya trip on NPR's All Things Considered. Listen to the interview.