Severe drought leads to hundreds of deaths as Somalia faces famine

Doctor Mustaf Yusuf treats Ali Osman, three, who is showing symptoms of Kwashiorkor, a severe protein malnutrition causing swelling and skin lesions, as his mother Owliyo Hassan Salaad, 40, holds him at a malnutrition stabilisation centre run by Action against Hunger, in Mogadishu (AP)

The worst drought in the Horn of Africa in four decades has sparked efforts to prevent famine, with hundreds of people having died of malnutrition already in the region.

Previously unreported data shared with the Associated Press show at least 448 deaths this year at malnutrition treatment centres in Somalia alone.