Somalia is sliding deeper into a health and nutrition emergency as failed rainy seasons, soaring water prices and sharp humanitarian funding cuts fuel a surge in malnutrition and preventable disease, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned Tuesday.
MSF teams report rising numbers of children arriving at overcrowded displacement camps and health facilities in critical condition with severe acute malnutrition or illnesses such as measles, diphtheria and acute watery diarrhoea — conditions that vaccination and clean water can prevent.
- Advertisement -
“We are seeing children arriving at our hospitals in critical condition, often after travelling for days without food or water,” said Allara Ali, MSF’s project coordinator in Somalia. “The drought has not only dried up wells but also the support systems families rely on.”
Somalia’s government declared a drought emergency in November. But aid groups say the response has lagged as funding sinks to its lowest level in a decade, even as climate shocks intensify in one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries. The United Nations had warned that after four consecutive failed rainy seasons, 4.4 million people could face crisis-level or worse food shortages by the end of 2025, including 1.85 million children under five at risk of acute malnutrition.
Across the country, more than 3.3 million people have been driven from their homes by drought, floods and conflict, many crowding into camps around Baidoa in the southwest and the Mudug region in central Somalia, where water and sanitation are scarce and disease spreads quickly.
Key indicators underscore the scale of the slide:
- Since early 2025, more than 200 health and nutrition facilities have closed nationwide as funding dried up.
- Food assistance has plummeted from reaching 1.1 million people a month to about 350,000.
- In Baidoa, MSF saw a 48% month-on-month jump in admissions for severe acute malnutrition in October.
- In the same period, 189 children were treated for suspected measles in Baidoa; 95% had never been vaccinated.
- In Mudug, admissions to inpatient therapeutic feeding centres rose by 35%.
Clean water has become prohibitively expensive for displaced families. A 200-litre barrel sells for $2.50 to $4 in Baidoa and Mudug, MSF said. “We cannot afford water,” said Kaltuma Kerow, a 35-year-old mother living in a camp in Baidoa. “We are extremely short of food and water, and we fear diseases like cholera.”
In Galkayo, the capital of Mudug, repeated displacement has left families on the brink. “We have eight children, most are malnourished,” said Rahma Mohamed Ibrahim, who said accessing clean water is out of reach. “We pay $4 for a tank of water or 25 cents for a jerrycan of salty water. My children drink it and get diarrhoea.”
MSF has launched emergency measures to blunt the worst effects. In December, the group began water trucking in Baidoa; by mid-January it had delivered more than 6 million litres of safe drinking water to 17 sites. Teams also installed water bladders and solar lighting in densely populated settlements to improve safety and access.
But aid workers warn such stopgaps cannot keep pace with mounting needs as the harsh dry season bites and disease spreads in cramped camps. “This situation is unacceptable because it is predictable and largely preventable,” said Elshafie Mohamed, MSF’s country representative in Somalia. “The current humanitarian response is leaving millions without access to basic healthcare, food or water.”
MSF urged donors and authorities to rapidly scale up nutrition programs, accelerate vaccination campaigns, and expand water and sanitation services. The organisation also called for investments in climate-resilient water infrastructure and sustained support for essential healthcare to reduce death and disease in the months ahead.
Without a coordinated, multisector response, MSF warned, preventable deaths will continue to rise amid compounding climate shocks, displacement and deepening poverty.
By Ali Musa Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
