For Somalia’s malnourished children, already suffering the twin catastrophes of looming famine and radical cuts in foreign aid, the United States (US), Israeli war on Iran means more than soaring petrol pump prices; it ​is a matter of life and death.

Shortages of lifesaving therapeutic foods exacerbated by shipping disruptions are forcing clinics to turn away severely malnourished children and ration supplies, Reuters reporting ‌shows.

Almost half a million children under 5 suffer from “severe acute malnutrition” or “wasting”, the most life-threatening form of hunger, and the delays are worsening the effect of the aid reductions.

Health workers in Baidoa and Mogadishu say they have had to stretch out meagre stocks of specialised milk and nutrient-dense peanut-based paste vital to saving these children.

“Since the needs are large and we don’t have a lot of supplies, we have had to keep reducing the amount ​we give children,” nurse Hassan Yahye Kheyre said.

The 225 cartons of peanut paste remaining at his clinic, which treats more than 1 200 children, will probably be exhausted within two weeks, according to ​the International Rescue Committee, which supplies the facility.

“If treatment is on-and-off, the children will become very weak, physically and mentally. And it may not be ⁠possible to reverse it,” Kheyre added.

–Reuters–