Drought puts 3.6m children at risk of missing school

Some 3.6 million children are at risk of dropping out of school due to the drought in the Horn of Africa, the UN has said.

Unicef estimates that the children in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are in danger of leaving school as a result of the cumulative pressure on households caused by the drought. In a sign of how acute the situation is becoming in many areas, that number has more than tripled – from 1.1 million – in the past six months.

Four consecutive failed rainy seasons have pushed millions of families to the brink, increasing the number of deaths of children from malnutrition and forcing people to flee their homes in search of more resources.