Middle East conflict deepens Somalia hunger crisis as fuel costs, aid disruptions worsen malnutrition

Wednesday April 29, 2026

Halimo stands at a dry water point in Somalia. Photo: CARE International

Mogadishu (AX) — The war raging in the Middle East is now feeding another emergency far from the battlefield: Somalia’s hunger crisis is getting worse. Aid agencies and officials say the conflict is pushing up fuel and food prices, disrupting humanitarian supply lines, and deepening acute malnutrition among children.

For pastoralist families, the first blow is being felt at the water point. Diesel prices are climbing, making boreholes harder and more expensive to run. As the cost of fuel rises, access to water tightens, leaving communities increasingly dependent on systems that are already under strain. Food prices are also moving beyond the reach of many households, with women and children among the most exposed.

Humanitarian agencies warn that these overlapping pressures are compounding one another less water, less food, and increasing malnutrition risks across drought-prone regions.

Relief operations are feeling the squeeze as well. Supply chains for medical and nutrition commodities sourced from the Middle East have slowed, delaying shipments of lifesaving supplies and putting nutrition programmes at risk at the very moment demand is highest.

According to aid workers shortages of therapeutic foods are already forcing some clinics to ration supplies and, in some cases, turn away severely malnourished children.

Nearly half a million children under five in Somalia are currently suffering from severe acute malnutrition also known as wasting, the most life-threatening form of hunger.

The Somalia Country Director of CARE International, Ummy Dubow, said the crisis is moving through several connected systems at once, from fuel markets to medical supply chains, leaving Somalia dangerously exposed to shocks beyond its control.

“In Somalia, the impacts of the Middle East conflict are cutting across multiple dimensions of daily life and humanitarian programming simultaneously, reflecting the country’s profound structural dependence on the region for its most essential imports,” Ummy Dubow said.

She warned that procurement disruptions have hit nutrition programmes especially hard, particularly supplies of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and Supplementary Food (RUSF), which are not produced locally.

“CARE Somalia has faced the suspension of reliable procurement channels for Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and Supplementary Food (RUSF), commodities for which no domestic production capacity exists. An order of 4,500 kg (300 cartons) of RUTF placed early in 2026 remains unfulfilled, compelling a pivot to emergency sourcing from Kenya that has seen unit costs skyrocket from $55 per carton (including transport) to $200 per carton,” she said.

Dubow added that the higher costs are sharply reducing how many children can be reached.

“The mathematical reality of this shift is devastating: a budget originally intended to treat 300 children for severe and moderate acute malnutrition can now reach only 83, a 72% reduction in reach at a time when need remains acute,” she said.

She further warned that soaring fuel costs are undermining rural livelihoods, especially for pastoralist families who rely on diesel-powered boreholes.

“This procurement crisis is unfolding alongside a broader erosion of rural livelihoods. Pastoralist communities, who depend entirely on boreholes for water access, are finding these lifelines increasingly untenable as rising diesel prices undermine the viability of pump operations,” Dubow said.

“As fuel costs climb, food prices follow, limiting what vulnerable families particularly women and children can put on the table. In the nutrition centers operated by CARE and its partners, this is manifesting as a dangerous gap where slowed admissions and forced prioritization increase the risk that children with moderate malnutrition will deteriorate into life-threatening states.”

She concluded that Somalia has little room to absorb the shocks now hitting it from multiple directions.

“Ultimately, Somalia’s experience captures a country with very little buffer to absorb such shocks, where the conflict is arriving simultaneously through fuel pumps, food markets, and medicine supply chains, threatening to reverse hard-won gains in child survival and household resilience,” she said.

Health workers in Baidoa and Mogadishu say shortages of therapeutic milk and nutrient-dense peanut paste essential for treating severe acute malnutrition are forcing difficult rationing decisions.

“Since the needs are large and we don’t have a lot of supplies, we have had to keep reducing the amount we give children,” said nurse Hassan Yahye Kheyre.

Humanitarian agencies warn that unless supply routes stabilise and funding gaps are urgently addressed, Somalia’s nutrition crisis could deepen further, putting hundreds of thousands of children at even greater risk.