KEY MESSAGES
• The humanitarian crisis in Somalia is widespread, with all households requiring assistance in at least one essential sector. Findings show that 65% of overall households across Somalia were in acute need indicating a collapse of living standards with risk of significant harm to physical or mental well-being.
• Households had most pressing needs in shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and education. Findings show that 88% the assessed households had unmet needs in shelter, 85% in WASH and 73% in education, calling for urgent and comprehensive humanitarian response to address the diverse challenges faced by people in Somalia.
• Newly displaced households1 were among the most vulnerable populations, facing higher rates of extreme acute needs (16%) compared to protracted internally dispaced persons (IDPs) (12%) and host communities (3%). This highlights the urgent need for targeted and tailored humanitarian assistance to address the immediate and unique needs of different population groups.
Context
Somalia remains within a complex and protracted crisis due to active conflict, the presence of nonstate armed actors, the persistent presence of communicable diseases and climate-driven onset shocks – including droughts and flooding.
Conflict and natural disasters continue to drive displacement and constrain the availability of resources, while the presence of armed groups severely impedes the level of access and support provided by humanitarian actors.2 The combination of restricted access to resources, drought, and flooding further exacerbates the possibility for outbreaks of communicable diseases like measles, cholera, and Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD).
With the objective to capture the magnitude and severity of needs for each population group falling within the scope of Humanitarian Program Cycle (HPC), the Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (MSNA) provides comprehensive, context-specific and timely data through household level surveys implemented nationwide in Somalia. For more information, refer to the Terms of Reference here