International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Horn of Africa Drought

Kenya burdened by famine refugees; rape attacks up

Submitted by Anonymous on August 9, 2011 - 1:54pm
Source Title: 
Kenya burdened by famine refugees; rape attacks up
Date: 
August 9, 2011
Source: 
Associated Press
Source URL: 
http://www.salon.com/wires/world/2011/08/09/D9P0N7R02_af_east_africa_famine/inde...
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Marauding gangs and criminals are attacking Somali famine refugees more frequently as they flee across the border to Kenyan camps, but Kenyan police say they don't have enough manpower to stop them.
Meltwater URL: 
http://service.meltwaternews.com/mnews/redirect.html?docId=1715851426&userId=259...
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MNEWS_1715851426
Source ID: 
556

Hope and horror at world's largest refugee camp

Submitted by Anonymous on August 9, 2011 - 1:24am
Source Title: 
Hope and horror at world's largest refugee camp
Date: 
August 8, 2011
Source: 
CNN's AC360
Source URL: 
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/08/09/kenya.refugee.camp/index.html
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Dadaab, Kenya (CNN) -- Humphry Musyoka, a doctor at the world's largest refugee camp, knows well how quickly dehydration can ravage the body of a child.
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2939

IRC drought response: Vaccinating children

Dadaab refugee camp is now home to 400,000 people, making it the largest camp in the world. As people continue to flee drought and famine in Somalia, over 1,300 arrive at this already crowded camp daily. The IRC is on the ground, vaccinating children to protect them from the spread of disease.

08 Aug 2011

The Challenge of Drawing the Line on Famine

Submitted by Anonymous on August 7, 2011 - 9:36pm
Source Title: 
The Challenge of Drawing the Line on Famine
Date: 
August 7, 2011
Source: 
The Wall Street Journal
Source URL: 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB40001424053111903454504576488673007245358.html
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When reports of malnutrition and deaths began pouring in from Somalia last year, relief organizations weren't yet ready to declare a famine was under way.
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37104

Malnourished Somali baby thriving as rare success

Submitted by Anonymous on August 6, 2011 - 1:06pm
Source Title: 
Malnourished Somali baby thriving as rare success
Date: 
August 6, 2011
Source: 
Associated Press
Source URL: 
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-08-06-somalia-famine_n.htm
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DADAAB, Kenya — Only 10 days ago, Minhaj Gedi Farah was too weak to cry and his skin crumpled liked thin leather under the pressure of his mother's hands.

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Drought Response: Vaccination campaign in Dadaab [Video]


August 5, 2011
By The IRC
Hagadera, Dadaab Refugee Camp, Kenya -
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Vaccination campaign reaches vulnerable refugee children in Kenya


August 3, 2011
By Peter Biro

Antonia Kamore, IRC community health program officer in Dadaab, vaccinating a young refugee against measles.

Photo: Peter Biro/IRC
Hagadera, Dadaab Refugee Camp, Kenya -
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This Is What Famine Looks Like

Submitted by Anonymous on August 2, 2011 - 5:12pm
Source Title: 
This Is What Famine Looks Like
Date: 
August 2, 2011
Source: 
Slate
Source URL: 
http://www.slate.com/id/2300654/
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Scenes from the Dadaab refugee camp.
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A lifeline in the desert

A lifeline in the desert

  • <p>More than 1,300 Somali refugees arrive daily at the already overcrowded Dadaab camp in Kenya. The IRC has helped to establish reception centers where newly arrived refugees receive food, health screenings and medical referrals. Here, people gather outside the fence at one of the reception centers waiting to be admitted.</p>
  • <p>Many refugees arrive in Dadaab with nothing, stripped of even their clothes by militant groups or bandits who roam the area near the Kenya-Somalia border.</p>
  • <p>The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that about 40 percent of the Somali refugee children arriving at Dadaab are malnourished. Once they are identified as such, the children are rushed to the IRC&rsquo;s stabilization center, part of the IRC-run hospital in Hagadera, one of three sites that make up the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp. There they receive fortified food and medical care.</p>
  • <p>Minhaj Gedi Farahi, who is seven months old, arrived at the stabilization center weighing only six and a half pounds (three kilos) and on the brink of death. &ldquo;After a week&rsquo;s care he has gained 400 grams (almost a pound), which is a remarkable improvement,&rdquo; said the IRC&rsquo;s Dr. John Kigora. &ldquo;Against all odds, he will survive.&quot;</p>
  • <p>One-year-old Abdirahman Mohamed is in critical condition. Dr. Kigora and his colleagues constantly monitor the child, who is suffering from both severe malnutrition and pneumonia.</p>
  • <p>Halima, Abdirahman&#39;s mother, said the drought killed all her family&rsquo;s livestock&mdash;10 cows and two goats. &ldquo;We have nothing left,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We have nothing to return to.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m scared about the future.&quot;</p>
  • <p>At the Hagadera stabilization center, acutely malnourished children, infants, pregnant women and new mothers receive food fortified with micronutrients.</p>
  • <p>Abdallah Ibrahim Jare and his family walked for 25 days across the desert from their village in southern Somalia before reaching safety in Dadaab. The drought killed their crops and animals, leaving them with no food for the journey. Abdallah&rsquo;s wife died of fatigue and starvation along the way.</p>
  • <p>When Abdallah&rsquo;s son, three-year-old Aden Abdile Ibrahim, arrived in Dadaab, he weighed only 11 pounds (five kilos). An average three-year old boy should weigh around 30 pounds (15 kilos). After a week of treatment in the IRC stabilization center Aden has gained two pounds and is on his way to recovery.</p>
  • <p>Outbreaks of disease are a significant risk in Dadaab, which hosts four times the population it was built for. In response, aid groups this week launched a mass vaccination campaign against polio and measles.</p>
  • <p>Every morning infants are weighed and measured in the stabilization center to chart their recovery. Bashir Halane, an IRC nutritionist, checks a baby who has gained weight over the last few days.</p>
  • <p>Hussein Abdullahi, an IRC nurse&rsquo;s assistant (left), and nutritionist Ismail Hussein Omar, measure a refugee girl at the stabilization center.</p>
  • <p>One-and-a-half year old Abdi Awow Abdullah is being discharged from the stabilization center only six days after he arrived in critical condition. &ldquo;He has come back to life,&rdquo; the IRC&rsquo;s Dr. John Kigora said.</p>
Launch Slideshow

Every day hungry, exhausted, and desperately ill Somali refugees and their children are brought to an IRC-run field hospital in the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya. The IRC’s Peter Biro reports on how the refugees are being nursed back to life and health.

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When three-year-old Somali refugee Aden Abdile Ibrahim arrived in Dadaab, he weighed only 11 pounds. After a week of treatment in the IRC stabilization center Aden has gained two pounds and is on his way to recovery.

Text and Photos by Peter Biro

A lifeline in the desert

Submitted by Peter.Biro on August 2, 2011 - 1:53pm
Date: 
August 2, 2011

Every day hungry, exhausted, and desperately ill Somali refugees and their children are brought to an IRC-run field hospital in the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya. The IRC’s Peter Biro reports on how the refugees are being nursed back to life and health.

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