Funding to tackle acute malnutrition in parts of Somalia has fallen by more than 80% this year, Médecins Sans Frontières said Tuesday, even as one in
Funding to tackle acute malnutrition in parts of Somalia has fallen by more than 80% this year, Médecins Sans Frontières said Tuesday, even as one in four children screened in displacement camps in the country’s southwest is severely malnourished.
A July survey by MSF of 888 households across 14 displacement sites in Baidoa found that a third of families were surviving on just one meal a day, while only 2% could afford three meals.
MSF said it had screened more than 21,000 children under five in Baidoa since the start of the year and found acute malnutrition rates of about 50%, a condition that is less severe than acute malnutrition but still involves sudden, life-threatening weight loss.
MSF Health Adviser Mitchell Sangma said the United States had slashed its support for aid agencies in Somalia, from $70 million last year to nothing this year, leaving humanitarian groups struggling to keep pace with rising needs as other Western donors have also pulled back funding.
MSF says only about $300 million is currently available for Somalia from donors, compared with $2.2 billion provided in 2022 during a similarly severe drought.
“This year we have admitted 22,000 nutrition cases, more than 80% higher than last year. When we need this massive scale-up in intervention measures, we are seeing less interest from donor support,” Sangma said, according to MSF.
Somalia is grappling with a worsening hunger crisis after repeated failed rainy seasons devastated crops, killed livestock and depleted water supplies, with conflict and insecurity further disrupting livelihoods and access to food, healthcare and aid.
In February, the Somali government and the UN said roughly 6.5 million people faced acute hunger due to drought, and the UN reported that more than half a million people were displaced in the first three months of 2026, with women and children accounting for about 85% of those displaced.
The crisis is reviving fears of a repeat of Somalia’s 2022 near-famine, though aid agencies say their response is now being constrained by severe funding shortfalls.
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