Families affected by drought in rural Somalia are being forced to make impossible choices, including traveling long distances to access health services and food on empty stomachs or staying home and suffering in silence.
Somalia has had four failed rainy seasons, pushing the country into a drought and forcing pastoralist communities to leave their homes in search of pasture and water.
Djoen Besselink, the country representative in Somalia for medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF - Medecins Sans Frontieres), told Anadolu Agency in an interview that some families are left with stark choices.
"Bringing one child to a health center means leaving behind others and the cattle/livelihood. So they sometimes can't bring the sick/malnourished child to the health center," he said by phone.
He said many people in Somalia are pastoralists and their herds are dying due to the drought, so they now have to decide whether they should walk long distances to access food and medicine.
