Somalia’s Children Pay the Price as Lifesaving Aid Funding Falls

Nearly 1.9 million children in Somalia are projected to experience malnutrition this year, including almost 500,000 facing severe acute malnutrition, its deadliest form.

Somalia's humanitarian crisis is becoming more dangerous for children as major funding cuts force health centres, nutrition programmes, water services, schools and child protection facilities to scale back or close, leaving families with fewer places to turn as drought, displacement, conflict and rising costs place additional pressure on already vulnerable communities.

According to UNICEF, 205 health and nutrition facilities have already closed, while health and nutrition service coverage has fallen by around 30%. During the first six months of this year, stabilization centres recorded a 32% increase in admissions of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition with complications compared with the same period last year. UNICEF says the increase reflects the loss of preventive and community-based services, which means children are often identified only after their condition has become much more serious.

Malnutrition Grows More Dangerous as Local Services Disappear

Nearly 1.9 million children in Somalia are projected to experience malnutrition this year, including almost 500,000 facing severe acute malnutrition, its deadliest form. Nearly one million children under five, adolescent girls and women could also lose access to nutrition services as funding shortages spread through the humanitarian system.

The consequences become especially severe when community facilities close. Parents must travel farther with sick children, treatment begins later and conditions that could have been managed earlier may require specialized hospital care. Under severe funding scenarios, UNICEF warns that as many as 618 health facilities could eventually close nationwide.

Between 2021 and 2025, UNICEF supported more than 2.25 million admissions of children with severe acute malnutrition, recording a 97.6% cure rate in 2025. A UNICEF-supported oral cholera vaccination campaign also reached more than 885,000 people in 2024, covering over 90% of its intended target population. Funding for UNHAS, the UN humanitarian air service, which provides vital air connections for humanitarian cargo and operations in Somalia, fell by 40% between 2025 and 2026.

Water Shortages and Education Cuts Put More Children at Risk

More than 1.6 million people need access to safe water, while over 800,000 people risk losing essential hygiene supplies. In rural and pastoral communities, the cost of a 200-litre barrel of water has risen from about $2 to $8, placing a basic necessity beyond the reach of more families who have already lost livestock or livelihoods. UNICEF has provided emergency and sustainable water services to more than one million people, yet maintaining that progress depends on continued financing.

Somalia's education sector lost $30 million in funding during 2025, with contributions from major donors expected to fall by more than half in 2026. More than 78,000 students have already dropped out, while another 660,000 girls and boys are at risk of leaving school. For children living through drought, displacement and poverty, losing access to education carries risks far beyond missed lessons. Schools can provide stability while reducing children's exposure to exploitation, child labour, early marriage and recruitment by armed groups. During Somalia's 2022 drought, UNICEF support helped more than 130,000 children remain in education, showing what sustained assistance can protect during periods of severe disruption.

Child Protection Services Shrink as Wider Pressures Intensify

Funding shortages are also weakening protection systems in a country where serious violations against children remain widespread. At least 65 child protection service points and facilities have closed, while case management, psychological support, family tracing and reintegration programmes face further disruption.

These services can be critical for children formerly associated with armed groups. UNICEF highlighted the experience of a teenager named Abdullah, who wanted to become a mechanic but was recruited after being promised work and training, only to be sent into combat. Reintegration programmes have previously given children in similar circumstances vocational training and starter kits that help them find employment or establish small businesses. Reduced funding now threatens that pathway.

The humanitarian pressures are unfolding alongside severe drought in northern Somalia, continuing conflict and displacement, higher fuel and fertilizer costs, and the threat of intense El Niño-related flooding. Families that have lost crops and livestock are arriving in communities where humanitarian resources are already stretched.

Somali institutions and humanitarian organizations continue working to strengthen national systems and develop more local and sustainable responses, yet the scale of current needs means those efforts cannot replace essential humanitarian financing. The growing concern is that withdrawing support now could turn preventable health, nutrition, education and protection problems into deeper emergencies that become more difficult and expensive to address later.