Strained health sector in Kenya's north feels heat of long drought

Halima Osman and her malnourished baby at the Mandera referral hospital. [Ibrahim Ali, Standard]

An eerie silence sweeps across the children's ward at Mandera County Referral Hospital, with no wailing or murmurs that would normally rent the air.

Halima Osman sits cross-legged on a white sheet-covered rubber mattress in one corner. Muzamil, her nine-month-old baby, is being fed milk via a syringe in her arms. His glassy eyes and frail body are all symptoms of his illness.