Disease hits starving refugees

The worsening famine in East Africa is one of the largest humanitarian crises in decades, a US State Department official said yesterday.

Reuben E Brigety, who is responsible for State Department assistance to refugees and conflict victims in Africa, said malnutrition levels among those arriving at refugee camps are staggeringly high. The overall mortality rate is seven people out of 10,000 per day, against a normal crisis rate of two.

World Health Organisation spokesman Tarek Jasarevic said at least 462 cases of measles, including 11 deaths, have been confirmed in recent months among Somali refugee children in the huge Dadaab camp.

Save The Children said that it has started feeding malnourished refugee children in pre-registration sites at camps in southern Ethiopia, while some 2,000 refugees are crossing into Ethiopia every day, swelling the camps' populations.