A severe drought intensified by El Niño has hit Somaliland and Puntland, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. An estimated 1.7 million people are affected by drought and about 1.3 million people are at risk of slipping into acute food insecurity if they do receive assistance immediately.
The drought has led to loss of livestock out-migration, a sharp fall in crop production resulting in higher food prices, severe water shortages, rising household debt and increases in disease outbreaks and malnutrition.
Save the Children is providing emergency medical care to malnourished children in self-declared Somaliland’s Borama Hospital, where it runs a stabilisation centre. Rates of acute malnutrition have doubled in Borama, 120 km west of the capital Hargeisa, as a result of the drought.
The drought may worsen in the coming months as predictions for Somalia's main 'Gu' rainy season, from March to June, are poor, the United Nations has said.
Save the Children photos from Borama, Somaliland
Asterisk (*) denotes a name that has been changed to protect identity
Credit: Colin Crowley / Save the Children
