Somalia is facing a severe malnutrition crisis and urgently needs additional humanitarian funding to prevent conditions deteriorating further, the World Food Programme has warned.
Around six million people in Somalia - nearly one in three of the population - are currently experiencing acute hunger, while 1.9 million children are acutely malnourished, according to the agency.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said it may be forced to suspend humanitarian assistance from July if new funding is not secured. The agency has already been compelled to significantly scale back its operations, reducing the number of people it can support from two million to around 500,000.
Matthew Hollingworth, WFP Assistant Executive Director for Programme Operations, said Somalia is facing one of the world’s most severe malnutrition emergencies.
“Somalia faces a really severe malnutrition crisis and is one of the biggest malnutrition hotspots in the world,” he said, speaking to reporters in Geneva via video link from Rome.
The crisis has been driven by multiple failed rainy seasons, which have devastated crops and livestock, alongside ongoing conflict and insecurity.
Somalia continues to face overlapping security challenges, including a long-running Islamist insurgency by Al-Shabaab, as well as political tensions between the federal government in Mogadishu and regional authorities.
Humanitarian agencies warn that the combination of climate shocks and instability is pushing vulnerable communities into increasingly dangerous levels of food insecurity.
Aid agencies say the situation is now more difficult than during the 2022 drought emergency, when Somalia was on the brink of famine but large-scale international assistance helped avert the worst outcomes.
This time, however, humanitarian organisations are facing severe funding shortages, limiting their ability to respond at scale. The WFP has warned that without urgent financial support, life-saving operations could be forced to shut down.
The humanitarian response is also being affected by global supply chain disruptions, including delays of up to 40 days in the delivery of ready-to-use therapeutic food used to treat severe malnutrition.
Hollingworth said these disruptions, combined with reduced funding, are severely constraining emergency food assistance programmes.
The WFP has urged international donors to step up support to prevent further deterioration of the crisis. Without immediate intervention, aid agencies warn that millions more people could face extreme hunger in the coming months, deepening an already critical humanitarian emergency in Somalia.
One person was killed and nearly a dozen hurt in a new attack Riyadh's international airport on Sunday, Saudi ...
The 25th World Petroleum Council (WPC) Energy Congress began in Riyadh on Sunday (11 October), running from 11 to 15 October under the theme &ldquo...
The Kremlin on Monday rejected a 60-day ceasefire idea proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to...
The explosion at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday afternoon killed at least 12 people and injured a further 309, according to Saudi Arabia’s Civil Aviation Authority. The airport remains closed until further notice.
One person was killed and nearly a dozen hurt in a new attack Riyadh's international airport on Sunday, Saudi authorities reported, a day after a strike claimed by Yemen's Houthis that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300.
Yemen's Houthis renewed warning to airlines, airport workers, and travellers against using Saudi airports, saying the warning should be taken seriously and that the kingdom “bore responsibility for failed interceptions”, a day after an attack on Riyadh's international airport that killed 12 people.
The Houthi movement has escalated their attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting the airport in Riyadh and other cities, killing more than a dozen people.
Ukraine is ready to stop attacks on Russian oil refineries if Moscow also halts strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
The Kremlin on Monday rejected a 60-day ceasefire idea proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to allow his country to hold presidential elections, saying it wanted an overall peace deal instead.
Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 12 October 2026 with the top five natural disasters happening around the world.
The Houthi movement has escalated their attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting the airport in Riyadh and other cities, killing more than a dozen people.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that Ukraine is ready to respect the energy ceasefire announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, but only if Russia does the same, saying Moscow has already violated the agreement.
China has announced sanctions against Belize’s foreign minister and Paraguay’s communications minister over their countries’ diplomatic ties with Taiwan. The move comes as Beijing continues to pressure the few remaining nations that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taipei.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment