Funding shortfall leaves severely malnourished Somali women, children facing death
The Somalia Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan is only 11.1 per cent funded as of May 12.
Mothers in Somalia are watching their children grow weaker by the day, with no food, no medicine, and no place left to turn.
Pregnant women are skipping meals, children are wasting away, and girls are being pulled from school to help their families survive.
More To Read
- Shifting sand dunes displace over 150 families in Southern Somalia
- UN warns of 30% surge in hunger crisis in Somalia by June
- Horn of Africa droughts: How network of groundwater bores could help – study
- UN urges enhanced support for Africa's drought-affected countries
- Livestock insurance offers hope to drought-hit Somalia pastoralists
- Japan gives Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia $10m for relief food
Across the country, women and children are at the centre of a worsening hunger crisis, as life-saving nutrition programs lose funding and shut down.
With 1.8 million children under five now severely malnourished, up from 1.7 million at the start of the year, 479,000 are at risk of dying without urgent help.
“We know that in crises like the one we are witnessing, women and girls are always the hardest hit,” said Ummy Dubow, CARE Somalia Country Director.
“Every day, we hear countless human tragedies in the centres we run. Pregnant women sacrificing their nutrition, mothers watching their children waste away from acute malnutrition, and young girls being pulled from school to help families survive. Without adequate food, health, and nutrition programs, the burden of disease and death among women and children will rise sharply. The already overstretched and under-resourced facilities will buckle under increasing needs, and lives will be lost.”
The crisis is moving faster than predicted, driven by seasonal challenges and the aftermath of the 2024 drought.
In 21 of the hardest-hit areas, 36 per cent of people are now going hungry, up from 28 per cent earlier this year.
Emergency conditions have increased by 50 per cent. Yet as the need rises, support is shrinking.
The Somalia Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan is only 11.1 per cent funded as of May 12.
The food and nutrition sectors have received just 2.9 per cent and 3 per cent of the required funding.
Health centres that provide life-saving care are shutting down. Families must now travel long distances to get help, increasing the risk of delayed treatment, stunting, and death.
“I thought I had lost my child. But today, she is alive and as long as she is well, that is everything to me,” said Sucdi, a mother who was able to save her child through emergency care at a CARE-supported facility. But with funding dropping, others may not get the same chance.
“We have been forced to stop life-saving programs that supported thousands of women and children,” said Alinur Ali Aden, Executive Director of GREDO.
“For many, this is a death sentence. Pregnant and breastfeeding women now face even greater risks of losing their lives and their babies without basic health and nutrition support.”
As Somalia faces growing hardship, CARE is calling on donors to act now. Without immediate support, more women and children will be lost to hunger and preventable disease.
Top Stories Today
