Five things you need to know about Somalia’s humanitarian crisis

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been responding to Somalia's most pressing needs for a decade, but no single organization can fill these massive gaps alone. Here are five essential facts  about what is happening in Somalia.

1. Drought is destroying livelihoods and forcing families to flee

Consecutive failed rainy seasons and rising temperatures — particularly in Puntland and Southwest state — have dried up wells and pastures, causing water prices to skyrocket.

Families are now forced to rely on trucked water at unaffordable costs. Meanwhile, mass livestock deaths and plummeting agricultural production have devastated primary sources of income.

Faced with this reality, thousands of families have had to abandon their homes. Many are heading to overcrowded camps around cities like Baidoa and the wider Mudug region, in desperate search of water, food, and health care.

2. Millions face acute food insecurity

In 2024, MSF teams treated 18,066 children for severe acute malnutrition across its projects in Somalia — a significant jump from the previous year.

After four consecutive failed rainy seasons, 4.4 million Somalis faced critical levels of food insecurity in 2025, according to UN estimates, including 1.85 million children under 5 who are at risk of acute malnutrition, and 421,000 children with life-threatening severe acute malnutrition.

At the same time, more than 3.3 million people have been displaced, severely straining the already limited resources and basic services in host communities.

3. The collapse in humanitarian funding is driving the disaster

The crisis in Somalia isn't just driven by climate or conflict; it is catastrophically compounded by a collapse in humanitarian funding. The current United Nations response plan, designed to save millions of lives, has received only 20 percent of its required funding: Out of the $1.42 billion needed, only $288 million has materialized.

Because of this massive shortfall, the UN plan was slashed by 75 percent, cutting the number of aid recipients from 6 million down to just 1.3 million. This isn't because the needs have decreased — it's because international support has dried up. For millions of Somalis, this simply means they are completely cut off from any humanitarian aid.

4. Health and nutrition services are on the brink of collapse

As funding dwindles, health facilities are shutting their doors one by one. Since early 2025, more than 200 health and nutrition centers have closed nationwide, directly impacting over 1.7 million people. The number of malnutrition treatment centers plummeted from 775 to 629 in just six months. The crisis is further aggravated by disrupted supply chains, causing months-long shortages of critical supplies like therapeutic milk for severely malnourished children.

As a result, clinics lack the bare essentials, and children are waiting for treatments that may not arrive in time. Meanwhile, preventable diseases like measles, diphtheria, and acute watery diarrhea have surged due to the breakdown of basic immunization and nutrition services.

5. MSF is saving lives, but struggling to bridge the gaps alone

MSF continues to provide lifesaving care in areas like Baidoa and the Mudug region, supporting hospitals, running malnutrition treatment centers, providing emergency services, and dispatching mobile clinics to reach remote communities.

However, the needs are rapidly outpacing capacity. “Our teams are working around the clock to treat severe malnutrition and outbreaks of measles and diphtheria, but the sheer scale of the needs is pushing our capacity to the breaking point,” says Allara Ali, MSF project coordinator in Somalia.

MSF teams have recorded a surge in the number of inpatients undergoing malnutrition treatment, and a 32 percent rise in deaths among children under 5 with acute malnutrition in MSF-supported facilities. Tragically, nearly half of children with acute malnutrition die within the first two days of arriving at a clinic, often after exhausting, days-long journeys in search of care.

"We see children arriving at our hospitals in critical condition — often after journeys lasting days without food or water,” says Ali. “The drought hasn't just dried up wells; it has eroded the entire support network families rely on. People are exhausted, and without immediate access to water and health care, more lives will be lost to entirely preventable causes.”

Between December 13, 2025, and January 31, 2026, MSF distributed a total of 12,410,000 liters of safe drinking water, yet the needs remain far greater than the current response.

What needs to happen now?

The situation in Somalia is not an inevitable tragedy. While drought and conflict fuel the crisis, the sharp decline in funding has turned it into a deadly disaster. This crisis continues because the world has chosen to look away.