Somalia child hunger crisis deepens after aid cuts, UNICEF says

Somalia is grappling with an escalating child hunger crisis after international aid cuts forced the closure of over 200 health and nutrition facilities, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The East African nation has witnessed a 32 percent surge in children admitted to facilities with severe acute malnutrition and complications during the first half of 2026, UNICEF reported on Friday.

An estimated 1.9 million children are expected to be malnourished this year. James Elder, a UNICEF spokesman, lamented that aid cuts are shutting down healthcare, nutrition services, and exacerbating the lack of access to water, education, and protection for Somali citizens. Elder warned that as many as 618 health facilities could close nationwide in severe funding scenarios, emphasizing that it is not the appropriate time to withdraw support.

Somalia is currently experiencing a severe drought that has decimated livestock, destroyed harvests, and devastated livelihoods, leading to the displacement of approximately 500,000 people between January and April, in addition to 3.3 million already displaced. One-third of Somalia's population of 19 million is now facing severe food shortages.

However, funding for combating acute malnutrition in parts of Somalia has plummeted by more than 80 percent this year, with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) revealing that the United States and several other Western nations have reduced their aid. Somalia was also left out of the $2 billion global humanitarian aid pledge announced by the US for this year due to allegations of aid diversion and corruption.

These cuts have exacerbated the impact of the ongoing drought, limiting access to water while prices in rural and pastoral regions have quadrupled due to the US-Israel war on Iran. Additionally, a record-strength El Nino climate pattern is anticipated to worsen the humanitarian crisis with severe flooding, according to Elder. Nearly a million children under five, adolescent girls, and women are at risk of losing access to nutrition services.