The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Somalia drought caused 43,000 deaths in 2022, report estimates

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March 20, 2023 at 6:11 p.m. EDT
Displaced families from Gedo and Garbahaareey, areas severely affected by drought, rest on their way to an IDP camp, near Doolow, Somalia, on June 15. (Luis Tato for The Washington Post)
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About 43,000 people in Somalia may have died last year — potentially half of them younger than 5 — because of the devastating and prolonged drought battering the nation, according to a report commissioned by UNICEF and the World Health Organization that was released Monday.

Somalia has endured five consecutive failed rainy seasons, and may soon see its sixth. In the country of 17 million, more than 6.5 million face acute food insecurity and 223,000 face “catastrophic” levels of hunger, according to the World Food Program.