The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on August 21 warned that life-threatening malnutrition among children in Somalia is sharply worsening, as more than 200 health and nutrition facilities have been forced to close due to cuts in international aid.
According to UNICEF, in the first six months of 2026, the number of children admitted for treatment of severe acute malnutrition with complications in Somalia rose by 32 percent. Nearly 1.9 million children are projected to be malnourished this year.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva via video from Nairobi, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder stressed: “In Somalia today, aid cuts are closing health facilities, halting nutrition services, and pushing safe water, education, and child protection further out of reach.” He warned that up to 618 health facilities nationwide could close in “severe funding shortfall scenarios” and argued that “this is the wrong time to step back.”
Somalia is enduring a severe drought that has killed livestock, destroyed crops, and ruined livelihoods. According to aid organizations, the drought displaced about 500,000 people between January and April, bringing the total number of displaced people to about 3.3 million. One-third of Somalia's population (about 19 million people) faces severe food insecurity.
Earlier this month, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said funding to address acute malnutrition in parts of Somalia had dropped by more than 80 percent this year, after the United States and several Western countries reduced aid. Somalia was also excluded from a $2 billion U.S. global humanitarian aid commitment this year, with allegations of aid diversion and corruption.
UNICEF said the aid cuts have deepened the impact of the drought, limiting access to clean water while water prices in rural and pastoral areas have quadrupled. Fuel and fertilizer costs have also surged due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, while a record-strength El Niño is forecast to worsen the humanitarian crisis with severe flooding.
UNICEF estimates that nearly one million children under five, adolescent girls, and women are at risk of losing access to nutrition services.
