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Reuters
Reuters
Environment
By Ayenat Mersie

Fleeing drought, Somalis face malnutrition and cholera in Kenya

Dool Abdirahman Ismael, 26, a Somali refugee, carries her child Hikimo Mohamed as he receives treatment for malnutrition inside the International Rescue Committee (IRC) stabilization ward at the Hagadera Main Hospital in the Hagadera refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, in Garissa County, Kenya, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

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.

Dr. Marvin Ngao, the Medical Officer In-Charge of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), treats a child inside the ward at the Hagadera Main Hospital in the Hagadera refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, in Garissa County, Kenya, January 17, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

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.

A Somali refugee girl carries her sibling as they walk in their new arrivals area of the Hagadera refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, in Garissa County, Kenya, January 17, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

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, U.N. data shows, but aid workers say the number not yet registered in the U.N. system is up to five times that number.

Those who flee often find little relief in neighbouring countries which have also been hit by the Horn of Africa's worst drought in more than four decades and are groaning under the strain of an influx of new refugees.

Somali refugees are seen outside their makeshift shelters in the new arrivals area at the Hagadera refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, in Garissa County, Kenya, January 17, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

"The new arrivals bring a scarcity to the already little resources that are available for the population here," said Dr. Marvin Ngao, the top medical official for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an aid group that runs health facilities in Dadaab.

OVERCROWDING

Dadaab is a vast, dusty expanse of shops, bustling streets and makeshift houses built from white United Nations tarps. Somalis started arriving here in 1991 when their country descended into civil war.

Nadifo Hassan, 22, a Somali refugee, feeds her child Farihiyo Noor Hassan as he receives treatment for malnutrition inside the International Rescue Committee (IRC) stabilization ward at the Hagadera Main Hospital in the Hagadera refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, in Garissa County, Kenya, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

When refugees first arrive, many depend on extended family networks within the camp to share their limited rations since it can take weeks or months to start receiving their own.

This, combined with rising food prices and poor farming and herding conditions due to the drought, means long-term camp residents are also vulnerable to hunger. In the past year, 32 children have died of malnutrition in the section of the camp run by the IRC, Ngao said.

Aid agencies are struggling to keep up. The U.N. refugee agency said it has received only about half of the $11.1 million it needs for its work in northern Kenya.

Dahir Suleiman Adanm 65, a Somali refugee, sits with his wife Hajiyow Arbow Noor, 55, and their children inside their makeshift shelter within the new arrivals area at the Hagadera refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, in Garissa County, Kenya, January 17, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

The overcrowding is also driving the spread of communicable diseases like cholera. There have been hundreds of cases since October, according to the IRC.

Nevertheless, hundreds of Somalis continue to arrive in Dadaab each day. The U.N. says there could be about 90,000 new arrivals by year-end.

Dahir Suleiman Ali, a 68-year-old farmer, had been resisting pressure from his extended family to leave Somalia for the past two years, but he had little choice when the local river dried up late last year.

"This was the worst drought I have ever seen," he said.

(Reporting by Ayenat Mersie; Editing by Aaron Ross and Raissa Kasolowsky)

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