For children around the world, the end of the school holidays usually comes with mixed feelings as it is the beginning of a new school year. That was surely the case as schools re-opened their doors this week in the Dadaab refugee camps in north-eastern Kenya. Report by Manuel Moreno and Kyle O’Donoghue. DADAAB, Kenya, … Continued

At the side of the road in one of the most remote parts of Wajir in north east Kenya, a flurry of activity buzzed around a covered water tank. Report by Rob McBride. WAJIR, Kenya, 12 September 2011. VIDEO: UNICEF correspondent Rob McBride reports on innovative long-term solutions to water issues in Kenya. The tanker … Continued

VIDEO: UNICEF correspondent Chris Niles reports on a measles vaccination campaign in camps for people displaced by drought and conflict in Mogadishu, Somalia. Videographer: Eva Gilliam. “He doesn’t sleep,” says Furiyay, a mother whose young son sits lethargically on her lap. The boy is thin and his legs are covered with sores. “He vomits the … Continued

The fighting in Libya, particularly in the past weeks, has left the capital short of water and fuel. The disruption of the water supply to Tripoli through the country’s ‘Great Man-Made River’ pipeline system has left approximately 4 million people without potable tap water. Report by Roshan Khadivi TRIPOLI, Libya. VIDEO: 1 September 2011 – … Continued

As sporadic fighting continues across Libya, the country is facing a potentially disastrous water shortage. The crisis results mainly from disruptions of the pipeline network that serves desert areas lacking local water sources. Report yy Roshan Khadivi, BENGHAZI, Libya, 29 August 2011. Known as the Great Man-made River, the network carries water from more than … Continued

Either let through by the bigger children, or squeezing through unnoticed, many of the smallest were at the front when head teacher Habiba Mohamed Shuriye gave the order to serve the lunch. Their assortment of bowls, cups and jugs – held out by small, eager hands – were first to be filled from the vats … Continued

Bedria Yuya has just learned that one of her eight-month-old twins, Hehumati Shemsedin, is severely underweight. The news comes during a monthly growth-monitoring session in her village in drought-affected eastern Ethiopia. Report by Indrias Getachew, KEBSO TEKOMA, Ethiopia, 25 August 2011 VIDEO: UNICEF correspondent Priyanka Pruthi reports on community health workers’ efforts to identify and … Continued

UNICEF-supported outpatient therapeutic feeding programme provides life-saving services in Ethiopia. Berida Jateni, 40, appears worried and gaunt and much older than her years. Sitting next to her hut in drought-ravaged Borena near the Kenya border she laments the impact of the drought that is threatening to destroy her pastoralist way of life. Report by Indrias … Continued

Inside the informal refugee settlements that have mushroomed around towns like Wajir, men are conspicuously missing. As drought ravages the vast and barren expanse of northern Kenya, decimating livestock and displacing hundreds of pastoralist communities, rather than stay in the settlements, the men have opted to salvage whatever little livestock is left by scouring the … Continued

  At the therapeutic feeding centre of Balbala, on the outskirts of the capital city Djibouti, Abdelfattah, 20-months-old, stares suspiciously at the visitors who have just walked in. Report by Najwa Mekki, Balbala, Djibouti. As he swallows a spoonful of what looks like thin sorghum paste that his mother is slowly feeding him, Abdelfattah seems … Continued

In the middle of the dry river bed, in Kenya, children and adults alike worked to collect water from the dirty puddle at the bottom of the pit. Taking small, quick scoops in order to avoid the grit, the group patiently gathered just enough water for drinking. Without sediment, the water looked clean, but no … Continued

Foday Ali’s five-month-old baby is looking around, showing signs of life for the first time in four days since she was admitted to the Banadir Paediatric Unit in Mogadishu for severe malnutrition. She was born in an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camp in Mogadishu just days after her mother completed the 25 kilometre walk from … Continued