Sun Sep 4, 2011 8:59AM GMT
Hundreds of thousands are facing starvation in Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp as doctors warn of a rise in infectious diseases among African famine-stricken refugees, Press TV reports.
Doctors in the Dadaab refugee camp say sickness and disease continue to be serious problems among refugees crossing the border from Somalia, as hundreds of newcomers enter the overflowing camp.
The Kenyan Camp Dadaab is inundated with arriving refugees who descend on the camp because of the persistent drought and resultant famine in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Dozens of Somali children lose their lives every day because of cholera and other infectious diseases.
The UN refugee agency warned on Thursday that three million people are at risk of starvation in southern Somalia until next year's crops can be harvested.
The situation affects millions of people across Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia, with Somalia being singled out as the hardest-hit country in what is being described as the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in 60 years.
According to the United Nations, a quarter of Somalia's 9.9 million population are either internally displaced or living outside the country as refugees.
The UN has declared famine in five regions of Somalia and says that the international humanitarian response to the crisis has been insufficient.
MSH/JG/HRF
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