Report: 43,000 estimated dead in Somalia drought last year

By CARA ANNA
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A new report says an estimated 43,000 people died amid the longest drought on record in Somalia last year and half of them likely were children under 5 years old. It’s the first official death toll in the drought withering large parts of the Horn of Africa. At least 18,000 people are forecast to die in the first six months of this year. The report released by the World Health Organization and the United Nations children’s agency and carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine says “the current crisis is far from over.” Somalia faces a sixth consecutive failed rainy season.