Drought: The slow-onset disaster threatening 700 million with displacement by 2030
Drought: 55 million affected annually—climate change making dry regions drier
Amina Hassan watched her youngest daughter, three-year-old Fatima, grow weaker each day.
The rains hadn’t come to their village in Somalia’s pastoral region for three consecutive seasons. The family’s livestock—their entire livelihood—died one by one. First the goats, then the cattle. The well that had served their community for generations ran dry.
Fatima stopped playing. Her eyes grew dull. Her skin stretched tight over bones that seemed to become more prominent each day. At the health clinic—a tent set up by relief workers—the nurse measured Fatima’s upper arm with a colored band. Red zone. Severe acute malnutrition.
“We had no food, no water,” Amina explained. “My husband left to find work in the city. I had to choose—stay and watch my children starve, or walk for days to reach the refugee camp where I heard there was food and water.”
Amina’s story is far from unique. According to WHO’s information on drought, an estimated 55 million people globally are affected by droughts every year. These slow-onset disasters are the most serious hazard to livestock and crops in nearly every part of the world.
The numbers are staggering: water scarcity impacts 40% of the world’s population, and as many as 700 million people are at risk of being displaced as a result of drought by 2030.
We’re not talking about a distant threat. We’re talking about a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding right now, intensified by climate change, with health consequences that extend far beyond thirst.
Understanding Drought as a Disaster
Drought is a prolonged dry period in the natural climate cycle that can occur anywhere in the world. It’s characterized by lack of precipitation, resulting in water shortages.
Unlike sudden-onset disasters like earthquakes or floods, drought is a slow-onset disaster. It creeps in gradually, making it easier to ignore until the consequences become catastrophic.
But make no mistake—drought can have a serious impact on health, agriculture, economies, energy, and the environment.
According to WHO data, between 80-90% of all documented disasters from natural hazards during the past 10 years have resulted from floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, heat waves, and severe storms. Drought represents a major portion of these climate-related disasters.
Drought threatens people’s livelihoods, increases the risk of disease and death, and fuels mass migration on scales that destabilize entire regions.
For more on climate-related health threats, see our article on climate change and health.
Climate Change: Making Bad Situations Worse
Here’s where the situation becomes even more alarming: rising temperatures caused by climate change are making already dry regions drier and wet regions wetter.
In dry regions, when temperatures rise, water evaporates more quickly. This increases the risk of drought or prolongs periods of drought that would naturally end sooner.
Climate models predict that drought frequency, duration, and severity will increase in many regions as global temperatures continue to rise. Areas that were once marginally suitable for agriculture are becoming uninhabitable. Water sources that sustained communities for generations are drying up permanently.
WHO’s questions and answers on climate change, land degradation, and desertification explain how these interconnected processes create feedback loops—drought leads to land degradation, which makes the region more vulnerable to future droughts, which causes more degradation, and so on.
This isn’t a theoretical problem for future generations. It’s happening now.
The Greater Horn of Africa has been experiencing severe drought and food insecurity, with millions facing crisis conditions. Afghanistan faced devastating drought conditions requiring WHO and health cluster partners to scale up activities. Somalia required urgent WHO intervention to save lives during acute drought-related emergencies.
These aren’t isolated incidents—they’re the new normal in many regions.
The Devastating Health Consequences
When drought causes water and food shortages, the impacts on health are multiple and severe. As WHO emphasizes, drought may have both acute and chronic health effects.
Malnutrition becomes widespread due to decreased availability of food. This includes protein-energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies such as iron-deficiency anemia, vitamin A deficiency, and zinc deficiency. Children like Fatima are hit hardest—malnutrition during critical developmental periods causes lifelong consequences.
Infectious diseases increase dramatically. Cholera, diarrhea, and pneumonia spread rapidly due to acute malnutrition weakening immune systems, lack of water forcing use of contaminated sources, inadequate sanitation, and population displacement into crowded conditions.
WHO’s guidance on malnutrition in emergencies and disasters details how drought-related food insecurity creates perfect conditions for disease outbreaks.
Mental health disorders and psycho-social stress affect entire communities. Watching children go hungry, losing livelihoods built over generations, facing uncertain futures—these create profound psychological trauma. WHO’s fact sheet on mental health in emergencies notes that mental health conditions are prevalent in disaster-affected populations.
Disruption of health services compounds the crisis. Lack of water affects clinic operations, loss of buying power means people can’t pay for care, health workers are forced to leave areas, and migration scatters populations away from health facilities.
Air quality deteriorates as severe drought makes wildfires and dust storms more likely, increasing health risks for people with lung diseases like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or with heart disease.
Dr. James Odhiambo, a WHO health cluster coordinator in East Africa, described the cascading effects: “A child weakened by malnutrition contracts pneumonia that would normally be mild. Without adequate water, hygiene deteriorates and diarrhea spreads. The nearest clinic has no water to clean equipment or hands. The family has no money for transport to the hospital. What should be a treatable illness becomes a death sentence.”
WHO’s Response as Health Cluster Lead
As the health cluster lead for global emergencies, WHO coordinates the health sector response to drought-related disasters.
This includes calling for and coordinating emergency funding to support health actions, assembling mobile health teams and outreach programs, ensuring appropriate food supplementation reaches affected areas, supporting child, maternal, and mental health services, and providing epidemic surveillance, early warning and response programs.
WHO works to provide preventative immunization efforts to mitigate disease effects in drought-stricken areas. When measles, cholera, or other vaccine-preventable diseases threaten malnourished populations, rapid immunization campaigns can prevent catastrophe.
WHO’s Early Warning Alert and Response System (EWARS) specifically addresses climate-sensitive diseases, helping detect outbreaks early when populations are displaced or stressed by drought.
WHO also addresses longer-term consequences. Food production is particularly at risk from drought, with implications lasting long after the drought itself ends. Droughts cause large numbers of people to become refugees in neighboring areas or countries, stretching resources of host regions. WHO coordinates with aid agencies and governments to reduce these impacts.
For health workers responding to emergencies, WHO provides Incident Management System training and has developed comprehensive guidance on food and nutrition needs in emergencies.
WHO’s broader work on managing environmental health risks in emergencies, rapidly detecting and responding to health emergencies, and building a skilled workforce to respond to emergencies all contribute to drought response capacity.
What Must Happen
Addressing the drought crisis requires action at multiple levels.
Climate change mitigation and adaptation are fundamental. Without reducing greenhouse gas emissions, drought frequency and severity will continue increasing. Communities in drought-prone regions need support to adapt—developing drought-resistant crops, implementing water harvesting and conservation, creating early warning systems, and building resilient livelihoods.
WHO’s work on supporting countries to protect human health from climate change addresses these connections.
Strengthening health emergency preparedness following WHA Resolution 64.10 on strengthening national health emergency and disaster management capacities ensures health systems can respond when drought strikes.
Investing in water infrastructure provides drought-resistant water sources that continue functioning when rains fail.
Supporting research and innovation on drought prediction, drought-resistant agriculture, and health interventions specific to drought contexts.
Addressing the broader connections between climate change and noncommunicable diseases, as drought-affected populations face increased risks of chronic conditions.
Back in Somalia, Amina and Fatima eventually reached the refugee camp. With therapeutic feeding and medical care, Fatima slowly recovered. But thousands of other children weren’t as fortunate.
“We shouldn’t have to choose between staying in our home and watching our children die, or walking for days to reach a camp where we’re refugees in our own country,” Amina said. “Something has to change. The rains have to come back, or we need help to survive when they don’t.”
She’s right. With 700 million people at risk of drought-driven displacement by 2030, this isn’t just a humanitarian issue—it’s a defining challenge for humanity.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Drought is a prolonged dry period in the natural climate cycle characterized by lack of precipitation resulting in water shortages. Unlike sudden-onset disasters like earthquakes or floods, drought is a slow-onset disaster that develops gradually, making it easier to ignore until consequences become catastrophic. Drought can occur anywhere in the world and has serious impacts on health, agriculture, economies, energy, and the environment. According to WHO, an estimated 55 million people globally are affected by droughts every year, making them the most serious hazard to livestock and crops in nearly every part of the world. Drought threatens people’s livelihoods, increases disease and death risk, and fuels mass migration. Water scarcity currently impacts 40% of the world’s population, with 700 million people at risk of drought-driven displacement by 2030.
Rising temperatures caused by climate change are making already dry regions drier and wet regions wetter. In dry regions, higher temperatures cause water to evaporate more quickly, increasing drought risk or prolonging drought periods. Between 80-90% of all documented disasters from natural hazards during the past 10 years resulted from floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, heat waves, and severe storms—with climate change intensifying these patterns. WHO’s information on climate change, land degradation, and desertification explains how drought leads to land degradation, which makes regions more vulnerable to future droughts, creating destructive feedback loops. Climate models predict drought frequency, duration, and severity will increase in many regions as global temperatures rise. WHO’s work on supporting countries to protect human health from climate change addresses these escalating challenges.
Drought creates multiple acute and chronic health effects. Malnutrition occurs due to decreased food availability, including micronutrient deficiencies like iron-deficiency anemia. Infectious diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, and pneumonia increase due to acute malnutrition, lack of water and sanitation, and displacement. Psycho-social stress and mental health disorders affect entire communities. Local health services are disrupted due to water supply lack, loss of buying power, migration, and health workers being forced to leave. Severe drought also affects air quality by making wildfires and dust storms more likely, increasing health risks for people with lung diseases (asthma, COPD) or heart disease. WHO’s guidance on malnutrition in emergencies and disasters and mental health in emergencies provide detailed information. Recent examples include drought and food insecurity in the Greater Horn of Africa.
As the health cluster lead for global emergencies, WHO coordinates comprehensive drought responses including: calling for and coordinating emergency funding for health actions; assembling mobile health teams and outreach programs; ensuring appropriate food supplementation reaches affected areas; supporting child, maternal, and mental health services; providing epidemic surveillance, early warning and response programs; and delivering preventative immunization to mitigate disease effects. WHO works to reduce impacts through coordination with aid agencies and governments, addressing both immediate health needs and longer-term consequences. WHO’s Early Warning Alert and Response System (EWARS) specifically addresses climate-sensitive diseases. WHO provides Incident Management System training and guidance on food and nutrition needs in emergencies. Recent responses include Afghanistan and Somalia.
Addressing the drought crisis requires multilevel action: climate change mitigation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions driving drought intensification; adaptation support for drought-prone communities (drought-resistant crops, water harvesting, conservation, early warning systems, resilient livelihoods); strengthening health emergency preparedness following WHA Resolution 64.10; investing in drought-resistant water infrastructure; supporting research and innovation on drought prediction and health interventions; and addressing connections between climate change and noncommunicable diseases. WHO’s work on managing environmental health risks in emergencies, rapidly detecting and responding to health emergencies, and building skilled emergency response workforce all contribute to drought response capacity. With 700 million at risk of displacement by 2030, urgent action is essential.
- WHO Drought Health Topic
- WHO Climate Change Information
- Drought and Food Insecurity in the Greater Horn of Africa
- WHO Questions and Answers: Climate Change, Land Degradation and Desertification
- WHO Questions and Answers: Malnutrition in Emergencies
- WHO Fact Sheet: Mental Health in Emergencies
Disclaimer: This article is an adaptation of publicly available information from WHO’s Drought
health topic page (WHO, Geneva. Licence: CC BYNC-SA 3.0 IGO). WHO is not responsible for the
content or accuracy of this adaptation. This content is for informational and educational purposes
only and does not constitute medical advice. ObserverVoice.com is a news and information platform
— not a healthcare provider.
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