Attachments
SITUATION OVERVIEW
• Somalia is facing a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation driven by prolonged drought, below average rainfall, escalating conflict, displacements, and a sharp reduction in humanitarian funding.
• The latest IPC analysis shows a sharp deterioration in food security across Somalia with an estimated 6.5 million people projected to face IPC Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse) between February and March 2026. This is nearly double the 3.4 million recorded in the first quarter of 2025. Of these, over 2 million people are in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency).
• Malnutrition levels are at critical levels with an estimated 1.84 million children aged 6-59 months projected to be acutely malnourished, including 483,000 children expected to face severe acute malnutrition. The situation is expected to worsen due to increased disease incidence during the rainy season and reduced access to treatment services following the closure of 125 severe acute malnutrition sites and 360 moderate acute malnutrition sites due to funding shortages.
• In parallel, severe drought in Bay, Bakool, and Gedo continues to drive water scarcity, rangeland degradation, and livestock deaths, eroding pastoral livelihoods.
• Humanitarian capacity is heavily constrained; due to reduced funding, WFP food assistance was reduced by over half, currently reaching only 600,000 people.
• The 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) indicates that 4.8 million people are in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance. However, significant resource gaps persist, limiting the ability to maintain or scale critical humanitarian services.