Somalia: Don’t wait for famine to be declared
Half of the children screened in displacement sites in Baidoa, southwestern Somalia, are acutely malnourished and one in every four is severely malnourished, according to a malnutrition survey carried out in July by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
“Behind every statistic is a child,” says Allara Ali, MSF’s project coordinator in Somalia. “What we are seeing is shocking and far beyond the threshold of an extremely critical emergency. What is equally shocking is the lack of urgency from donors who continue to downscale and withdraw support from Somalia.”
We are witnessing a shocking lack of urgency to a critical emergency
The results are consistent with MSF’s regular malnutrition surveillance in Baidoa, where around 50 per cent of more than 21,000 children under five were acutely malnourished.
The July survey —conducted across 888 households in 14 displacement sites in Baidoa — also found one third of families are surviving on just one meal a day.
“It is rare that we are able to get two meals a day.”
Nuriyo, mother of a child being treated for severe acute malnutrition in Baidoa
MSF is urgently calling on the donor community, international organizations and health authorities to ensure a well coordinated, adequately funded and effective emergency response without delay in Baidoa and other affected areas of Somalia.
“The world cannot wait for a famine declaration before acting,” says Ali. “Action is needed now to prevent the loss of lives.”
Drought and displacement are worsening malnutrition
Worsening drought has deprived families across Somalia of food, water crops and livestock. According to the UN, more than half a million people were displaced in Somalia in the first three months of 2026. Nine out of 10 displacements were driven by drought. Alarmingly, 85 per cent of those displaced are women and children, who are also among the most severely affected by malnutrition.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 21,000 children have been admitted to MSF-supported outpatient malnutrition facilities in Baidoa — twice the number as the same time last year. Additionally, 2,890 children have been admitted for inpatient care, a 78 per cent increase. The 2025 figures were already higher than 2024.
“A hospital bed can save a child today. But it cannot protect that child if they return to a shelter with no food, no clean water and no basic services.”
Allara Ali, MSF project coordinator in Somalia
“It is rare that we are able to get two meals a day,” says Nuriyo, mother of a child being treated for severe acute malnutrition in Baidoa. “There is no organization helping us. An organization gave us some cash assistance, but that was three years ago.”
Measles and diphtheria are also spreading MSF has admitted more than 2,600 pregnant and breastfeeding women for malnutrition support just in the past two months.
MSF can’t do it alone
MSF has expanded one medical facility from 50 to 150 beds, distributed relief items to displaced families and are trucking safe water to displaced communities in Mudug and Baidoa. But medical care and emergency assistance alone cannot meet the scale of this crisis.
“A hospital bed can save a child today,” says Ali. “But it cannot protect that child if they return to a shelter with no food, no clean water and no basic services.”
Funding cuts are weakening already fragile health services
Despite the level of suffering, Somalia is being deprioritized by major donors, including the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Somalia’s humanitarian response plan has been reduced by 40 per cent in 2026, weakening already fragile health services and forcing the health system to absorb a crisis far beyond its capacity.
“The malnutrition and health crisis in southwestern Somalia is becoming a clear example of dangerous indifference and a failure of responsibility,” says Ali.
MSF is calling for a critical scale-up of inpatient treatment for severe acute malnutrition, increased bed capacity and uninterrupted supplies of therapeutic food, medicines and medical equipment. We also urge vaccination campaigns to reach missed and hard-to-reach communities.
What’s going on in Somalia?
- Around 6 million people in Somalia — about one in three people — are estimated to be facing food shortages*.
- Nearly 1.9 million people are experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity.
- Almost, 512,000 people were displaced within Somalia during the first three months of 2026.
- Somalia’s Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan was reduced to CAD 1.19 billion in 2026 and only targets 2.4 million people, reaching less than half of those in need.
- International organization CARE says funding shortfalls have forced the closure of 50 of its 80 supported health and nutrition centres in Somalia since January, with 15 more at risk by October.
- Traditional donors, including the U.S. and the UK, have deprioritized Somalia, leaving humanitarian organizations without the resources needed to prevent avoidable deaths. The U.S., one of Somalia’s leading donors for years, fully halted its support in 2026.
- Somalia faces a similarly severe malnutrition crisis as in 2022, with nearly 1.88 million children expected to need treatment in 2026.
- International support to Somalia has fallen by 88 per cent since 2022.
* Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis
