Fleeing drought, Somalis face malnutrition and cholera in Kenya

Dool Abdirahman Ismael, 26, a Somali refugee, carries her child Hikimo Mohamed as he receives treatment for malnutrition inside the International Rescue Committee (IRC) stabilization ward at the Hagadera Main Hospital in the Hagadera refugee camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, in Garissa County, Kenya, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

DADAAB, Kenya (Reuters) - When her three-month-old baby fell sick from malnutrition, Dool Abdirahman Ismael left her village in Somalia and walked for three days through swirling dust and scorching heat to the Dadaab Refugee Camp just across the border in Kenya.

Ismael, 26, said she had hoped Dadaab would be free of the hunger and sickness she fled in Somalia, where the worst drought in decades and surging food prices have left millions of people in need of aid.