Dying children reflect brutal toll of Somalia drought
A nurse makes notes in a ward for severely malnourished babies in Banadir Maternity and Children Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, on June 1, 2022. Four consecutive seasons of poor rains have left millions of drought-stricken people in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia facing starvation. PHOTO | ED RAM | AFP
Arbay Mahad Qasim has already lost two children to a vicious drought, and now the Somali villager fears she could lose a third as her malnourished toddler Ifrah awaits treatment in a Mogadishu hospital.
Barely out of her teens, Qasim is among dozens of weary parents crowding Banadir Maternity & Children Hospital, which has become ground zero for the starvation crisis sweeping across Somalia as a record drought grips the Horn of Africa.
