UNICEF warns aid cuts threaten children’s lives in Somalia

Geneva, Aug. 21 (SANA) The UN Children’s Fund has warned that cuts in humanitarian aid in Somalia are forcing health and nutrition facilities to close, as the country faces an escalating climate crisis alongside ongoing conflict and displacement, with children paying the heaviest price.

Speaking to journalists in Geneva via video link from Nairobi, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said Somalia is facing a “terrifying reality,” with nearly 1.9 million children projected to be affected by malnutrition this year, including 500,000 with severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form.

Unprecedented funding cuts have already forced 205 health and nutrition facilities to close, and under the most severe scenarios, as many as 618 facilities could shut nationwide, Elder warned.

32% rise in severe malnutrition admissions

Admissions of children to stabilization centers for severe acute malnutrition and complications increased by 32% in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2025, Elder said. “This is not because more children are becoming sick,” he stressed. “It is because preventive and community-based nutrition services have been cut, meaning vulnerable children are less likely to be identified and treated early.”

“Fewer facilities mean longer journeys for mothers and their babies; longer journeys mean later treatment; later treatment means more severe illness and a greater risk of preventable death,” he warned.

Climate crisis, conflict compound pressure

Elder said aid is being cut at the worst possible time, as Somalia confronts a worsening climate crisis—severe drought in the north, conflict and displacement, rising fuel and fertilizer costs linked to the war in the Middle East, and a record-strength El Niño threatening severe flooding in the coming months.

“It is a brutal contradiction: the resources to protect vulnerable children are being cut at precisely the moment when the pressures pushing Somalia’s children into crisis are intensifying,” Elder said.

In May, four UN agencies—FAO, OCHA, UNICEF and WFP—warned in a joint statement of a rapidly worsening food emergency in Somalia, with approximately 6 million people, or 31% of the population, facing critical levels of food insecurity.

Somalia was added to the list of countries where acute food insecurity could reach “catastrophic” levels in the coming months, according to the FAO and WFP.

Between 2021 and 2025, UNICEF supported more than 2.25 million children with severe acute malnutrition, achieving a cure rate of 97.6% in 2025.

Kh.A / H.H