Households in Somalia pushed to the brink amid extreme starvation; pressing meals help wanted to avert worsening situations.
Printed On 20 Feb 2026
Life‑saving emergency meals and vitamin help supplied by the World Meals Programme (WFP) in Somalia may very well be compelled to a halt by April resulting from an absence of funding, the United Nations company has stated.
In a report printed on Friday, the WFP warned that the nation is going through one of the vital complicated starvation crises lately, pushed by two consecutive failed wet seasons, battle and a pointy drop in humanitarian funding.
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The warning comes as not less than 4.4 million folks, roughly 1 / 4 of the inhabitants, face crisis-levels of meals insecurity or worse, together with practically a million ladies, males and kids experiencing extreme starvation, in line with WFP knowledge.
Ranked among the many world’s most climate-vulnerable international locations, Somalia has endured recurrent droughts and floods.
“The scenario is deteriorating at an alarming price. Households have misplaced every little thing, and lots of are already being pushed to the brink. With out instant emergency meals help, situations will worsen shortly,” stated Ross Smith, WFP director of emergency preparedness and response. “We’re on the cusp of a decisive second; with out pressing motion, we could also be unable to succeed in probably the most weak in time, most of them ladies and kids.”
The WFP, the biggest humanitarian company lively in Somalia, stated it has already been compelled to scale back the variety of folks receiving emergency meals help from 2.2 million in early 2025 to about 600,000.
This interprets into the company having the ability to help just one in each seven folks in want of meals help, in line with the report. Vitamin programmes have additionally been slashed from helping practically 400,000 pregnant and breastfeeding ladies and younger youngsters in October final yr to 90,000 in December.
“If our already diminished help ends, the humanitarian, safety and financial penalties can be devastating, with the results felt far past Somalia’s borders,” Smith stated.
This warning comes on the heels of one other issued final month by Medical doctors With out Borders, identified by its French acronym, MSF.
The organisation stated that its groups in Somalia had been witnessing “a worrying development” of accelerating numbers of youngsters affected by preventable illnesses, resembling extreme acute malnutrition, measles, diphtheria and acute watery diarrhoea.
