Somalia Drought Drives Thousands to Baidoa as 2 Million Face Emergency Hunger
Updated
Updated · The Associated Press · Aug 12
Somalia Drought Drives Thousands to Baidoa as 2 Million Face Emergency Hunger
3 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Aug 12
Summary
About 2 million people in Somalia now face emergency food insecurity, with thousands fleeing drought-hit rural areas for Baidoa after years of failed rains, conflict and rising prices exhausted food stocks and livestock.
Baidoa is hosting about 1.6 million people—nearly half displaced—and one in five families lacks reliable water, forcing many to buy costly trucked supplies they can barely afford.
Half of Somali children under 5 were facing acute malnutrition in May, and the number treated for the deadliest form in Baidoa has nearly tripled in six months, aid groups said.
Aid agencies and Somalia's disaster authority are urging more international support as humanitarian funding shrinks and forecasters see a more than 90% chance of El Nino from mid-2026, raising flood risks later this year.
Trapped between devastating droughts and looming floods with shrinking global aid, what is the breaking point for millions of displaced Somali families?
With 500 clinics closed and aid slashed by nearly 90%, how will Somalia's starving refugees survive the impending El Niño floods?