The latest warning from the World Food Programme (WFP) about Somalia’s worsening hunger crisis reveals an alarming humanitarian emergency that requires immediate attention.
Development Diaries reports that the United Nations WFP has warned that millions in Somalia are at risk of worsening hunger and malnutrition as critical funding shortfalls have forced the agency to reduce the number of people it supports with lifesaving emergency food assistance in the country by over two-thirds.
‘We are seeing a dangerous rise in emergency levels of hunger, and our ability to respond is shrinking by the day’, WFP’s Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, Ross Smith said.
‘Without urgent funding, families already pushed to the edge will be left with nothing at a time when they need it most’.
With funding shortfalls forcing WFP to cut its food assistance from 1.1 million people in August to just 350,000 by November, millions of vulnerable Somalis are being left without critical lifelines.
This means less than one in ten people in need will receive aid, in a country where hunger and malnutrition are already at devastating levels.
Such a drastic reduction in coverage is a potential death sentence for many families who rely entirely on food assistance to survive.
According to WFP, the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report paints a grim picture. 4.4 million Somalis face crisis levels of food insecurity or worse (IPC 3+), with nearly 1 million already in emergency levels of hunger (IPC 4), a 50 percent increase in just six months.
Among children, the crisis is equally severe, as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recently reported that 1.8 million under the age of five are acutely malnourished, including 421,000 suffering from severe malnutrition.
With WFP’s nutrition programmes also being scaled down to cover just 180,000 children, the risk of preventable deaths from hunger and malnutrition is rising sharply.
The context makes this crisis particularly dangerous. Somalia is an already fragile nation, grappling with years of conflict, the aftershocks of severe drought, and now reduced humanitarian aid.
In such a setting, even small disruptions can have devastating consequences, and the current funding shortfall is anything but small.
WFP, which leads over 90 percent of Somalia’s food security response, is already operating far below required levels. With coverage halved compared to last year and needs still growing, Somalia risks being pushed into catastrophic conditions if the international community fails to act.
The WFP has made clear that US$98 million is urgently needed to sustain even a minimum of life-saving operations for 800,000 people through the lean season until March 2026.
Development Diaries calls on donors and humanitarian partners to heed this call without delay because the cost of inaction will be measured in lives lost, particularly among children and the most vulnerable families.
Source: WFP
Photo source: WFP
