Somalians face malnutrition, cholera in Kenya

When her three-month-old baby fell sick from malnutrition, Dool Abdirahman Ismael left her village in Somalia and walked for three days through swirling dust and scorching heat to the Dadaab Refugee Camp just across the border in Kenya.

Ismael, 26, said she had hoped Dadaab would be free of the hunger and sickness she fled in Somalia, where the worst drought in decades and surging food prices have left millions of people in need of aid.

Instead, the young mother found barren land, overcrowding and scant resources at Dadaab, one of the world’s largest refugee camps and home to 300,000 people.

In a ward for severely malnourished children, Ismael said her baby’s condition had not improved since arriving at Dadaab.

Severe malnourishment had made the baby’s head swell with liquid a common effect of malnutrition in children.

“There hasn’t been improvement,” Ismael said, cradling the infant.

After five consecutive failed rainy seasons, parts of Somalia are on the verge of famine and the rest of the country is faring little better.

“In the past two years, the drought has displaced one million Somalis and about 100,000 have fled to Kenya”, according to the United Nations.

At Dadaab alone, at least 6,000 Somalis fleeing hunger have arrived at the camp since the start of the year, UN data shows, but aid workers say the number not yet registered in the U.N. system is up to five times that number.

Reuters