Child malnutrition rates are soaring in northern Somalia, where the harshest drought in decades has ravaged crops and livestock, and aid workers fear hunger will worsen with further poor rains predicted.

Parts of the region are reeling from three years of failed rains which have left many families short of food, Save the Children's area representative, Mukhtar Mohumed Hassan, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"People are saying this is the worst drought they have seen in decades," he said via Skype. "They have not seen a drought on this scale for the last 30 or 40 years"