A mental health crisis is growing in the Dadaab refugee complex, where hundreds of thousands of Somalis have been stuck for decades. In Dagahaley, the number of attempted suicides is rising, and psychosocial consultations have jumped by more than 50 per from last year, over the same time period until September. In the last two months, five people have reportedly attempted suicide in the camp, two with fatal results. This stems from years of desperation, where refugees have seen little progress in finding solutions to their plight. Now COVID-19 is making this that much harder as resettlement and voluntary repatriations have completely stopped.

COVID-19-related confinement measures brought the issue of mental health to the fore. But for Dadaab refugees who have lived confined in camps for decades now, the psychological toll is unimaginable. COVID-19 has now even shattered what little hopes people had of escaping the camps.

Once the world’s largest camp, Dadaab attracts little media interest today, even though some 200,000 refugees still live there.