Conor Phillips, Country Director for the International Rescue Committee in Kenya, writes about the situation faced by refugees at the Dadaab camp, parallels that can be drawn with Syrian refugees and lessons that can learnt from both crises.

While the refugee debate in Europe mounts, the vast outflow of people from countries affected by conflict and disaster continues. In the last five years an estimated 7.5m have fled their home countries.

During this time, Syria has been the biggest refugee producing country and Somalia the second. In both countries the interrelated factors of conflict and drought made survival at home impossible for many. Every crisis is different but there are many useful lessons that can be shared between the two, both of which will unfortunately be ongoing for years to come.

Minhaj: From the brink of death to a healthy young boy
Earlier this month, ITV journalist Martin Geissler visited Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya to follow up on his 2011 story of a family that fled famine and conflict in Somalia. Martin’s story focused on Minhaj, the youngest child in the family, who had just arrived at a camp hospital run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Minhaj was literally starving to death. Dr. Kiogora, IRC’s head of medical services in the camp, said that had the child not been brought in that morning he likely would have died before the end of the day.
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