Somalia hunger crisis deepens as WFP funding drops to a tenth of 2022 levels

MOGADISHU — Six million people in Somalia are facing acute food insecurity, yet the World Food Program (WFP) has only a tenth of the resources it had in 2022, when it helped avert a famine in the drought- and conflict-hit nation, the UN agency's executive director said.

Carl Skau, speaking Wednesday during a visit to a nutrition center on the outskirts of Mogadishu, said the agency can only provide the bare minimum. "We're only providing these nutrition supplies to the children that are really the worst hit," he said.

Donor cuts and the diversion of funds to other humanitarian crises have left the WFP unable to expand its assistance in Somalia, Skau said. The agency projects that 1.9 million children under five will suffer acute malnutrition this year, including nearly 500,000 who will need urgent treatment for severe acute malnutrition. Around 30% of the population faces critical food insecurity, according to the UN.

"We had 10 times more resources than now," Skau said, referring to the 2022 hunger emergency caused by prolonged drought. "We were able to step in, and we prevented a famine here in Somalia."

The consequences are visible at the Feynuus Health Center in Mogadishu's Kahda district, where dozens of women with babies waited for help. Health workers screened children for malnutrition and distributed therapeutic food.

Halima Mohamed Hassan, a mother of six, walked nearly 3 kilometers carrying her malnourished 4-year-old. Pregnant and having not eaten for two days, she fled the Lower Shabelle region four months ago after her husband died of malnutrition. She walked for four nights with her children to reach a camp for internally displaced people on Mogadishu's outskirts.

Abdirahman Barkhad, program director of Youth Link Somalia, which operates the center, said about 10 nearby health and nutrition centers had closed due to reduced humanitarian funding, increasing pressure on those that remain. "We have witnessed children collapsing, because their families do not have enough food," he said.

Mohamud Moallim Abdulle, commissioner of the Somali Disaster Management Agency, called the food situation "extremely alarming," estimating 1.85 million malnourished children and 2 million people urgently needing assistance.

Skau said mothers he met in Burhakaba described drought, insecurity, and rising food prices as key drivers. Some had lost crops and fled homes; others walked hours to reach health facilities because aid workers couldn't reach them.

Insecurity, including a 20-year insurgency by al-Shabab, makes operations more expensive, forcing WFP to use aircraft in unsafe areas. Conflict in the Middle East is also driving up fuel and food prices and drawing funding elsewhere, Skau said.

After her child received food, Hassan began the walk back to camp. Her five other children were still waiting and hungry, she said, and she would have to return with them one at a time.