Driving the nearly 100 kilometre sand road from the Somali border to the refugee camps in Dadaab, Kenya is like an otherworldly odyssey across an arid landscape seemingly devoid of life. The four-by-four bucks and swerves to avoid the lifeless bodies of animals whose bones have been bleached a brilliant white by the merciless sun. … Continued

Genete Mohammed carries her 18-month-old daughter Iman to the Belina Arba Health Post in drought-affected Fedis District in Eastern Ethiopia for the weekly UNICEF-supported outpatient therapeutic programme (OTP).  Field report by Indrias Getachew. BELINA ARBA, FEDIS, 25 July 2011 VIDEO: 11 July 2011 – UNICEF correspondent Chris Niles reports on UNICEF efforts to treat malnourished … Continued

Christopher Tidey at the Dadaab Camp. UNICEF’s Christopher Tidey is in Dadaab Camp in Kenya, reporting firsthand on the situation threatening the survival of 2.23 million children in the Horn of Africa. We received these notes from him today; you can follow him live on Twitter: @Chris_UNICEF. The road to Dadaab is bone dry, 62 … Continued

A tragedy of epic proportions is unfolding in the Horn of Africa, where hundreds of thousands of children are facing death due to starvation. The disastrous combination of a paralyzing drought, skyrocketing food prices and conflict has left over 11 million people battling hunger to survive. VIDEO: 21 July 2011 – UNICEF correspondent Chris Niles … Continued

With famine now declared in two regions of Southern Somalia and malnutrition rates at emergency levels in arid and semi-arid regions across the Horn of Africa, almost 720,000 children are at risk of death without urgent assistance. In total 2.23 million children in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are estimated to be acutely malnourished. “We are … Continued

The Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley Somali refugee camps in Dadaab, north-eastern Kenya, are overflowing with refugees from drought and conflict in neighbouring Somalia. Here, UNICEF Kenya’s Edita Nsubuga recounts the story of one adolescent refugee caught in the crisis that has afflicted the entire region. By Edita Nsubuga DADAAB, Kenya, 12 July 2011 – It … Continued

TURKANA DISTRICT, Kenya, 18 JULY 2011 – A typically warm Turkana welcome greeted UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake when he visited the village of Kapua in north-western Kenya this weekend. Report by Edita Nsubuga and Alicia Jones Women and men in traditional attire sang as they escorted him to the shade of the trees in … Continued

Along with hundreds of other recent arrivals from neighbouring Somalia, five-day-old Isha, her five siblings and their parents wait in a queue at the sprawling Dadaab refugee settlement here in north-eastern Kenya. Report by Kun Li, DADAAB, Kenya. VIDEO: 11 July 2011 – UNICEF’s Kun Li reports on a sharp increase in the number of … Continued

UNICEF yesterday airlifted emergency nutrition supplies and water-related equipment to Baidoa, Bay region in southern Somalia, as part of its life-saving interventions to assist drought-affected children in Somalia and more supplies are en-route. The most severe humanitarian emergency in the world has been declared in the Horn of Africa, with Somalia being the epicentre of … Continued

A deadly combination of drought, on-going conflict and escalating food prices has placed over 9 million people in need of life-saving aid in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. Close to 2 million of those at risk are children under the age of five. The situation in the Horn of Africa is dire. Acute malnutrition rates in … Continued

DADAAB, Kenya, 11 July 2011 – It was a difficult decision, but in the end Hawa Issak decided to leave her home. The drought had destroyed her family’s livelihood, her husband had left her and she was pregnant. She did not see any future in southern Somalia’s Gedo Region, so she joined up with six … Continued

Hundreds of thousands of refugees are overwhelming camps in Dadaab, north-eastern Kenya, where they are seeking a haven from drought and conflict in neighbouring Somalia. Report by Chris Niles Dagahaley, Ifo and Hagadera camps in Dadaab were planned for 90,000 people and are now home to about 370,000. Taken together, the camps comprise the largest … Continued