Dadaab 25 years Exhibition
Captions
1992 – 1999
VITAL SERVICES MSF5767 ©Horacio Paone
1992 - From 1991 to 1993, approximately 300,000 Somalis fled across the Kenyan-Somali border.
Most refugees walked miles over Somalia's desolate savanna into Kenya's North Eastern Province,
and settled in the border town of Liboi, and then in Ifo, Dagahaley and Hagadera camps, the three
camps that were to make up the Dadaab refugee complex.
MSF arrived in August 1992 to provide general healthcare, as well as preventive and nutritional care.
To respond to the most urgent needs of the Somali population, logistical teams also built water tanks
and distribution points for water supply.
MALNUTRITON MSF5785 ©Americo Mariano
1992 - Over 80 percent of refugees were women and children, many of whom were the victims of
violence, including rape, as they fled war-torn Somalia. Along with their exhausted parents, a high
number of children arrived in the camp suffering from severe acute malnutrition. MSF opened a
feeding centre and eight health posts.
SURGERY MSF5765 ©Horacio Paone
1992 - The mass influx of refugees into Kenya was due to intense fighting in Mogadishu, widespread
pillage and a food crisis in the southern parts of Somalia. An emergency and casualty department
was set up by MSF in Liboi, Garissa province, for Somali refugees needing surgery.
TUBERCULOSIS MSF33650 ©Robert Malleta
1999 - Seven years after the first arrivals, MSF is still present in the Dadaab camps. Among other
medical activities, MSF is running a three year program for patients with tuberculosis, the rate of
which is high amongst the camp population. Young patients with tuberculosis come to get treatment
at the MSF hospital in Hagadera refugee camp.
LABORATORY MSF20677 ©Robert Malleta
1999 - A senior technologist at work in the laboratory in the MSF hospital in Ifo camp. Samples are
analysed to determine the status of patients suspected to have tuberculosis.
2009
HEATHCARE ©Spencer Platt MSF36452
A woman, 55, rests in a wheelbarrow after making a three day journey from Somalia with members
of her family. Of the 91,000 refugees living in Dagahaley camp at that time, nearly 60,000 had sought
safety from the war in 2008 alone. MSF began providing healthcare in Dagahaley in February 2009.
Teams were carrying out 150 outpatient consultations per day and providing vaccination services and
nutritional support to moderately and severely malnourished children.
HOME © Nenna Arnold MSF18564
A newly arrived family of refugees from Somalia stand outside their makeshift shelter, near
Dagahaley refugee camp. About 5,000 people were arriving each month in Dadaab.
OVERCROWDING ©Spencer Platt MSF36498
A security officer keeps order for hundreds of people desperate to move to a less crowded refugee
camp. According to the United Nations, some 43,000 refugees had arrived from Somalia during the
first eight months of 2009. As of September, camps were holding three times their capacity, and
lacked adequate shelter, water and sanitation services.
NUTRITION ©Spencer Platt MSF36513
A man helps to distribute flour at a United Nations food distribution centre. In Dagahaley camp,
many refugees don't get the basics: not enough food, not enough water and no shelter. Health and
nutrition surveys carried out by MSF in April 2009 in the Dagahaley camp revealed high levels of
acute malnutrition among a population already facing dwindling food aid rations.
EDUCATION © Finbarr O’Reilly MSF35125
Somali refugee girls attend school at Hagadera camp in Dadaab.
2011
DROUGHT MSF108141 © Lynsey Addario
By 2011, the horn of Africa is suffering one of the worst droughts in years, displacing thousands, and
killing others through severe malnutrition.
NEW ARRIVALS MSF105321 © Brendan Bannon
Hundreds of Somali refugees arrive each day to Dadaab. Most families fleeing Somalia arrive
exhausted, hungry, and with little to no belongings aft