UN warns Somali death rates on the Rise at Ethiopia refugee camp

With the deteriorating drought sitation in Somalia going up , and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) warning of depleting food stocks in Somalia which is facing severe humanitarian crisis due to the famine and drought, described as the worst during the last sixty years, the UN reported Tuesday that death rates of Somalia refugees at a camp in Ethiopia are on the rise. Blaming malnutrition and measles on spike in Somalia , the the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said, An average of 10 children under the age of five have died every day" since June'''', noting that "death rates have reached alarming levels among new arrivals." Nearly all new arrivals at the sprawling Dollo Ado complex, which is made up of four separate camps, are "women and children, with the majority in a very poor nutritional and health states," according to the latest assessment. Ron Redmond, with UNHCR in Nairobi, said an estimated 180,000 Somalis have fled to Ethiopia, escaping the recent drought and years of war. The UN said it was stepping up its medical response to the growing exodus to Ethiopia from Somalia, where five regions are officially famine-hit. Meanwhile, in neighboring Kenya, Somalis continued to flock to the overcrowded Dadaab refugee camp, which now housed over 440,000 people, despite being built for just 90,000 refugees.