Ethiopian drought leading to ‘dramatic’ increase in child marriage, Unicef warns

Displaced people queue to receive food aid last week at the Higlo camp in Gode, a town in the Somali region of Ethiopia. Photograph: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters

Drought-afflicted areas of Ethiopia are seeing “dramatic” increases in child marriage as the worst climate-induced emergency for 40 years pushes people to the brink, the head of Unicef has said.

Three consecutive failed rainy seasons have brought hunger, malnutrition and mass displacement to millions of people in the Horn of Africa, including parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti.