As a communications officer with International Medical Corps in Pakistan, I recently had the opportunity to visit flood-affected communities in Union Council Phuladiyon, in Sindh province, one of the areas hit hardest by monsoon flooding last year. I met with people, listened to what they had experienced and saw how our mobile medical teams are …
Sixteen-month-old Halimo Said Bashiir lives with her parents and four siblings at the Sheikh Omar camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Originally from Afgooye in the Lower Shebelle region of Somalia, Halimo’s family was forced to move to the IDP camp due to security concerns. With this move, her family fell on hard times, since …
Yemen has long been the poorest country in the Middle East and North Africa and is now in the midst of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Embroiled in conflict since early 2015, fighting has devastated its economy, leading to severe food insecurity and the destruction of critical infrastructure. The UN estimated that 24.1 million …
International Medical Corps Nutrition Advisor Iris Bollemeijer describes the looming famine in the Horn of Africa, and the causes behind the hunger crisis.
Fifteen-month-old Shefa was once full of energy. She had just started taking her first steps, and was curious to explore her surroundings. But then, she started losing weight rapidly and became lethargic. She lost her cheerful nature and stopped playing with other children her age. Her mother did not know what was wrong, and watched …
18-month-old Kubra Jawar lives with her family in Anani, a kebele (ward or neighborhood) in Fedis woreda (district) in rural Ethiopia. Kubra’s parents, Fatuma and Jawar, are subsistence farmers supporting their four children by farming and raising livestock. Persistent drought and supply-chain disruptions have limited their production, and their family is one of the poorest …
The Horn of Africa—which includes Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya—is facing a severe drought, the worst in four decades. Seasonal rains that farmers depend upon to water their livestock and nourish their crops failed for the fourth consecutive season when the April–May rains, called gu, fell far short of normal. The US government’s Famine Early Warning …