<\/p>\n
George Conway, the UN\u2019s top Humanitarian Official in Somalia, said the situation is deteriorating faster than anticipated. Conway said the crisis has been worsened by global supply chain disruptions linked to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Conway warned that children are the most affected, with nearly 2 million experiencing acute malnutrition. Conway said these children are severely undernourished and physically weakened, placing them at high risk of disease and death. Conway added that close to 500 000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and require urgent treatment to survive.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The UN Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF) highlighted the growing strain on health services, with some facilities unable to provide treatment due to supply shortages. Ricardo Pires, Spokesperson for UNICEF, said disruptions linked to the Middle East conflict are affecting the delivery of critical supplies.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) platform, nearly one in three people in Somalia is facing critical food insecurity. The IPC defines famine as a condition where at least one in five households experiences extreme food shortages, leading to starvation and high levels of acute malnutrition.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Conway said the South West state faces the most urgent threat, with a credible risk of famine identified in the Barakaba district.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Somalia has faced prolonged drought since 2024. Although the current Gu rainy season, which runs from April to June, has brought limited relief in some areas, concerns remain about below-average rainfall. Humanitarian assistance remains essential but increasingly costly.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Conway said many communities rely on water trucking as water sources dry up. Conway said rising fuel costs have caused water prices in some areas to triple over the past month.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pires warned that supplies of ready-to-use therapeutic food, critical for treating severely malnourished children, are also under pressure. Pires said Somalia depends heavily on air transport for deliveries, making operations vulnerable to rising fuel costs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pires said the situation is becoming increasingly difficult to manage, describing access to supplies as a matter of life or death for affected children.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34605,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-34604","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"At least 6 million people in Somalia are going days without enough food, with nearly 2 million young children at high risk of illness or death, according to United Nations (UN) aid officials.","published_date":"","news_description":"At least 6 million people in Somalia are going days without enough food, with nearly 2 million young children at high risk of illness or death, according to United Nations (UN) aid officials.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34606,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34604\/revisions\/34606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=34604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}