43,000 Estimated Dead in Somalia Drought Last Year.

 A new report says an estimated 43,000 people died during Somalia’s longest drought on record last year. Half of them were likely children under five years old.

It is the first official count of deaths announced in the drought that is affecting large parts of the Horn of Africa.

At least 18,000 people, and as many as 34,000, are predicted to die in the first six months of this year.

“The current crisis is far from over,” says the report. It was released Monday by the World Health Organization and the United Nations children’s agency. And it was carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Somalia and neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya are facing a sixth consecutive season with little rain. Rising world food prices and the war in Ukraine add to the hunger crisis.

The U.N. and partners earlier this year said they were no longer predicting an official famine declaration in Somalia for now. But they called the situation “extremely critical” with more than 6 million people hungry in that country alone.