More than 6.5 million Somalis are on the brink of severe hunger as the climate crisis, conflict and cuts in aid strain an already fragile healthcare system. Nearly 500 nutrition clinics have closed due to lack of funding, leaving children without care, according to the latest integrated food security phase classification report.
Zeynab Ibrahim, a 38-year-old single mother, lost four of her 10 children to hunger and sickness after years of drought destroyed her village in central Somalia. She now lives with her six surviving children in a makeshift hut in an IDP camp in Mogadishu, where they face limited access to water, sanitation and health facilities.
Adan Roble, 77, has endured drought, floods and fighting near Janale town. After losing everything, he fled to an IDP camp. 'Imagine losing everything and trying to survive without food and clean water, while fighting continues around you and drones keep flying overhead,' he said.
Nearly 1.9 million children under five are facing acute malnutrition. Over the past three months, more than 700 children were admitted to Kismayo general hospital’s specialised facility, with 10 dying, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Stabilisation centres are overwhelmed, forcing staff to make impossible choices on who to prioritise.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described the situation as 'reckless geopolitics, of war, conflict, indifference and cruelty'. Speaking from a camp in Baidoa, he expressed frustration over the shrinking ability of aid agencies to respond because of severe funding cuts.
