The ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa is being made worse by new disease outbreaks according to the UNHCO. In the Kenyan town of Mandera, approximately 10,000 people have been hit by dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease. The outbreak is spreading quickly because of a shortage of medical personnel and inadequate health facilities. The Mandera District Hospital is reportedly under severe strain, congested with patients and frightened residents packing the facility- the only public hospital in the area.

South Sudan is in severe danger of prolonged food shortages next year due to a variety of factors including irregular rainfall, a large number of returning residents, and border security problems. Health organizations issued a report stating that South Sudan would only be able to produce about half of the total food needed for next year. During July 2011, South Sudan was peacefully granted permanent separation from the north after years of war and destruction. Even with the peaceful transition

Since March, 2011, when protests against Syria’s Assad regime began in earnest, thousands of Syrian citizens have fled across that country’s borders, seeking safety in nearby Jordan and Lebanon. But Syrian asylum seekers claim they are no longer safe. Representatives of the regime they hoped to escape from are pursuing them in their new homes. Since March, nearly 4,000 Syrian refugees in northern Lebanon have been registered. The refugees themselves say this number is a misrepresentation because not all refugees

About 3.3 billion people – half of the world’s population – are at risk of malaria. Every year, this leads to about 250 million malaria cases and nearly one million deaths. People living in the poorest countries are the most vulnerable. Health education is an important component in disease control programme.