FILE – Crowds flowed continuously into a displacement camp on the barren outskirts of Dollow, Somalia, on a blistering day in September 2022. The searing drought that seemed to endlessly grip the region was palpable, hitting everyone hard and leaving the land as cracked and dry as an old shoe in the corner of a forgotten closet.
WASHINGTON — A chilling revelation recently came to light: since the relentless drought saddled parts of Somalia beginning in 2022, it has claimed the lives of a devastating 71,000 souls, over and above expectations. Let that sink in for a moment. It’s like an entire small city vanishing from the map.
Below the age of innocence, many lives slipped away – about 40% of these fatality figures were children under five. Commissioned by UNICEF, WHO, and Somalia’s Health Ministry, this study draws a haunting picture of survival struggles between January 2022 and June 2024.
In a candid chat with VOA Somali, Dr. Najib Isse Dirie, deputy research leader at SIMAD University in the heart of Mogadishu, shed light on how this grim tally came to be. “With five failed rainy spells, vast stretches of Somalia have been on the brink of teetering into famine,” Dr. Dirie explained, “People had to endure an increase in ‘drought-induced excess’ mortality while packed like sardines in dismal IDP camps, deprived of livelihoods, and grasping at the last shards of hope as rain avoided their withered crops.”
At Wednesday’s report launch in Mogadishu, the WHO’s envoy to Somalia, Dr. Renee van De Weerdt Renhilde, termed this study a sobering push to action. “These findings starkly unveil the heart-wrenching toll the 2022–2024 drought has exacted on Somali lives,” she mused, “A drumroll for urgent aid and an appeal for resilience-building that can’t gather dust.” She underscored Somalia’s pressing health system fortification needs, emphasizing the importance of gearing up against future emergencies through prevention, preparedness, and durable response strategies.
“We at WHO remain committed to standing firmly with the Somali government and allies, not only to shield but also to empower communities in braving and bouncing back from inevitable future trials,” she pledged.
Somalia’s Health Minister, Dr. Ali Hadji Adam Abubakar, set the podium afire with hope and foresight at the gathering. He radiated commitment to harnessing potential in limiting drought impacts, focusing on nurturing vulnerable groups, particularly children and women. “Crafting a resilient health framework will be the bedrock of a healthier, more prosperous Somali society,” Abubakar affirmed passionately. There was hope in his eyes, albeit a glimmer competing with countless challenges.
Meanwhile, the U.N., piecing a humanitarian picture as fragmented as a shattered mirror, sounds the alarm bells as they seek to amass $1.43 billion this week. “Somalia remains entwined in a complex, enduring humanitarian quagmire”—stated the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs—”where conflicts, insecurity, eruptions of disease, and repeated climatic shocks like droughts and floods layer despair atop Somalia’s dire needs like an old onion.”
A grim memory from 2011 haunts: a famine here claimed more lives than a packed football stadium, over a quarter-million souls lost with only echoes of their memories stirred by dry winds.
This study, a collaborative endeavor by UNICEF, WHO, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Imperial College London, and Mogadishu’s own SIMAD University, holds the world’s gaze with its unfathomable tale of survival against the odds.
Life’s brittleness in these lands forces profound contemplation. How does one measure hope against a horizon that often seems unyielding? Perhaps the stubborn spirit of humanity will learn to dance with the unpredictable rain, instead of fighting the storm.
Report By Axadle.
