Edward Macharia works for the International Rescue Committee at the Dadaab refugee camp complex in Kenya, where the IRC is helping hundreds of thousands of people who have fled Somalia, a country devastated by conflict and the worst drought the region has seen in six decades.

By Beza Tesfaye Nothing quite prepared me for my first encounter with a severely malnourished child. On a recent visit to the Dadaab refugee camp in eastern Kenya, an International Rescue Committee (IRC) doctor showed me into the Hagadera hospital, where the IRC treats malnourished children. We entered the dimly-lit wooden building to find a middle-aged man lying on a cot with a small bundle in his arms. As the man sat up to greet us, I could make out the big round eyes of a tiny child in his arms.