Mother’s 3-day walk with sick daughter highlights Somalia’s child malnutrition emergency

Kismayo, Somalia - A mother walked for three days with her 3-year-old daughter to a hospital in Kismayo, Somalia, as her daughter's body was swelling due to severe acute malnutrition. The young girl, Asho Hassan Abdi, was diagnosed with edema, a symptom of severe acute malnutrition. Somalia is facing a national emergency, with 1.92 million children between the ages of 6 months and almost 5 years old suffering from acute malnutrition.

Of these, 433,000 are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition, the form carrying the greatest risk of death. The crisis is compounded by displacement, flooding, and a lack of humanitarian assistance.