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Gallery|Climate

Drought in Somalia: Time is Running Out

Horn of Africa is in the grips of a drought that has affected nearly half the popation.

Drought in Somalia /Please Do Not Use
Amina Ibrahim watches over her four-year-old granddaughter Safia. The family walked to the hospital from the village of Masuubiye after the water in the local well began to make children sick. [Karel Prinsloo/UNICEF]
By Karel Prinsloo
Published On 20 Feb 201720 Feb 2017
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Baidoa, Somalia – Four-year-old Safia Adan lies in Baidoa Regional Hospital in southern Somalia with a tube through her nose. She is suffering from severe malnutrition and dehydration. At her side her worried grandmother looks up to explain that Safia first became sick after drinking water from the local well.

“The water had changed colour but we still drank it,” says her grandmother. “We stopped after Safia became sick. We brought her to the city because we knew you get could get good treatment here.”

They were lucky – seven people from their village are now confirmed dead and the hospital has seen a surge in children suffering from water-borne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea. 

They are the latest victims of the on-going drought ravaging Somalia that has left more than six million people, half the country’s population, facing food shortages and has seen water supplies become infected with bacteria rendering them undrinkable.


 READ MORE: How to tackle repetitive droughts in the Horn of Africa


Last week the United Nations warned that a severe famine in Somalia was a distinct possibility and noted that if the rains failed again and urgent international action was not taken the country could see a repeat of the famine of 2011, which killed more than a quarter of a million people. 

“In the worst affected areas inadequate rainfall and lack of water has wiped out crops and killed livestock,” the UN said in a statement released last week. “Communities are being forced to sell their assets and borrow food and money to survive.”

Aid agencies are particularly concerned that the drought is exacerbating the country’s on-going humanitarian crisis – 365,000 children under the age of five are acutely malnourished and 71,000 of those children are in need of urgent life-saving assistance.

“This time last year we had far fewer cases but due to the drought people will use any kind of water,” says Dr Abdullah Yusuf, medical coordinator for the Baidoa Regional Hospital.

Drought in Somalia /Please Do Not Use
In recent weeks more than 3,000 families have arrived in Baidoa from the surrounding countryside looking for food and water. [Karel Prinsloo/UNICEF]
Drought in Somalia /Please Do Not Use
Many of those suffering most acutely are children. 'A lot of people don't know how to treat acute watery diarrhoea/suspected cholera or that it is in the water so they try to treat it at home," says Dr Abdullah Yusuf, medical coordinator for the Baidoa Regional Hospital. [Karel Prinsloo/UNICEF]
Drought in Somalia /Please Do Not Use
Four-year-old Maglud Isaac was admitted to the hospital after he started vomiting and suffering from diarrhoea. [Karel Prinsloo/UNICEF]
Drought in Somalia /Please Do Not Use
A young boy suffering from diarrhoea is helped by his father in the stabilisation centre for malnourished children. Fawzia Mohamed, who works at the centre, says that these are the worst conditions she has seen in six years. [Karel Prinsloo/UNICEF]
Drought in Somalia /Please Do Not Use
Mothers wait for their children to be seen by health officials at a health clinic at a camp for internally displaced people. 'They tell me there’s no water or food at home and the children are the first to suffer,' says Fawzia Mohamed. 'There hasn't been any harvest at all.' [Karel Prinsloo/UNICEF]
Drought in Somalia /Please Do Not Use
Mothers are taught the importance of breastfeeding at a health clinic in a camp for internally displaced people, in Baidoa. [Karel Prinsloo/UNICEF]
Drought in Somalia /Please Do Not Use
Many women have walked for hours to reach the clinic. 'Our farms have nothing – we used to get maize and sorghum but haven't had anything for a year,' says pregnant mother of six, Binta Sheikh Nur. 'We have to walk 10km to get water and now the colour of water has changed.' [Karel Prinsloo/UNICEF]
Drought in Somalia /Please Do Not Use
Habibo Ali feeds her grandson Abdi Karim. The children are weighed and measured at the clinic. Those found underweight are given a nutritious peanut paste. [Karel Prinsloo/UNICEF]
Drought in Somalia /Please Do Not Use
Hawa Ibrahim holds her son, 10-year-old Andi Nassir, who is suffering from diarrhoea. Some of the mothers say there is clean water for sale in a few areas but it is too expensive for them to afford. [Karel Prinsloo/UNICEF]
Drought in Somalia /Please Do Not Use
A young girl standing at a makeshift camp for internally displaced people. Many of those who have come to these areas in search of help say they cannot feed their families. 'We eat once a day using money my husband sends from Mogadishu,' says Binta Sheikh Nur. [Karel Prinsloo/UNICEF]
Drought in Somalia /Please Do Not Use
Arjano Adoni, 30, was admitted to hospital after she started vomiting. The dry season is set to continue into April and there are warnings that if the rains fail the country will be plunged into famine. [Karel Prinsloo/UNICEF]


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