Somalia Faces Looming Child Malnutrition Catastrophe: Urgent Action Needed

IPC key highlights 

• An estimated 6.5 million people in Somalia are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity—IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse)—between February and March 2026. (doubled since early 2025)
• About 1.84 million cases of children aged 6-59 months in Somalia will likely suffer from acute malnutrition between January and December 2026, including 483,000 children who are likely to be severely malnourished. 

• Drivers of food insecurity are poor rainfall, conflict and insecurity displacement and high food prices 

Kevin Mackey- World Vision Somalia National Director on the release of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) 

“The recently released report has confirmed our deepest fears and what our teams have been witnessing on the ground. According to the report, approximately 1.84 million children aged 6-59 months in Somalia are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition between January and December 2026, with 483,000 children expected to be severely malnourished and at risk of death. 

This number is staggering and should spur humanitarian organizations and donors into immediate action to protect the lives of children, our teams have been recording a sharp increase in children and pregnant and lactating women being diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition. 

Mothers in Somalia are already being forced to make impossible decisions about what to feed their children. With humanitarian support rapidly declining, millions are left without food, health care, or clean water. This situation is pushing vulnerable families to the brink and demands urgent, sustained international attention and funding to prevent a deepening catastrophe. 

 With enough resources, we are ready to save lives, but the needs have fast outpaced the funds we have to respond. A catastrophe is on the horizon if we don’t act now to protect Somali communities against this drought. 

The escalating crisis demands an urgent, coordinated response from the international community, donors, and humanitarian partners to prevent widespread suffering and loss of life. Immediate funding and resources are critical to scale up nutrition interventions, treatment programs, and support for vulnerable families.” 

The drought is not just a story of numbers; it is a story of families torn apart in search of food, mothers carrying water for kilometers, and children crying themselves to sleep.  For Awo, a widow and mother of two, these numbers represent the daily pain of motherhood: waking up to children too hungry to understand why there is nothing to cook.   

“We pretended to cook water so the children could sleep.” 

“This drought separated families,” Awo explains. “It starves us. Everyone here has been affected the same way.” 

“Children don’t understand when you tell them there is no food,” she says. “So, I tricked them. I put a pot on the fire with only water. When they saw the steam, they believed food was cooking. They fell asleep waiting.”

World Vision is calling on all stakeholders to act now, before it’s too late, to avert a humanitarian disaster and safeguard the future of Somalia’s children.