{"id":38985,"date":"2026-08-11T17:34:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T12:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=38985"},"modified":"2026-08-11T17:34:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T12:34:47","slug":"somalia-malnutrition-response-hit-by-more-than-80-funding-drop-as-child-hunger-surges-msf-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=38985","title":{"rendered":"Somalia malnutrition response hit by more than 80% funding drop as child hunger surges, MSF says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\" data-body-type=\"bodyblocks\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">NAIROBI, Aug 11 (Reuters) &#8211; Funding to tackle acute malnutrition in parts of Somalia has dropped by more than 80% this year, M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res said on Tuesday, even \u200cthough one in every four children screened in displacement camps in the southwest is severely \u200cmalnourished.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">MSF Health Adviser Mitchell Sangma said the United States had cut its support to aid agencies in the country from $70 million \u200blast year to no funding this year, leaving aid groups struggling to respond as needs rise. Other Western donors have also cut funding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;This year we have admitted 22,000 nutrition cases, more than 80% higher than last year. When we need this massive scale-up in intervention measures, we are seeing less interest from \u200cdonor support,&#8221; Sangma said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A July survey \u2060by MSF of 888 households in 14 displacement sites in Baidoa, southwest Somalia, found that one in four children was severely malnourished. One third of families \u2060said they were surviving on one meal a day, while only 2% could afford three meals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Somalia is facing a worsening hunger crisis after repeated failed rainy seasons devastated crops, killed livestock and depleted water supplies. Conflict and \u200binsecurity \u200bhave compounded the crisis, disrupting livelihoods and limiting access \u200bto food, healthcare and aid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In February, the \u200cSomali government and the United Nations said about 6.5 million people in the country faced acute hunger due to drought.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">MSF said it had screened more than 21,000 children under five in Baidoa since the start of the year, finding acute malnutrition rates of about 50%. Acute malnutrition is less extreme than severe malnutrition but still involves sudden weight loss and is life-threatening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">According to the United Nations, more \u200cthan half a million people were displaced in Somalia in \u200bthe first three months of 2026, with drought driving most \u200bof the movement. Women and children accounted \u200bfor about 85% of those displaced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The crisis is reviving fears of a repeat \u200cof Somalia&#8217;s 2022 near-famine, but aid agencies \u200bsay the response is being \u200bconstrained by severe funding shortfalls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">MSF says there is only about $300 million available for Somalia from donors, compared to $2.2 billion that was provided by donors in 2022 when a similar drought \u200bsituation was experienced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The world cannot wait \u200cfor a famine declaration before acting,&#8221; said Allara Ali, MSF&#8217;s project coordinator in Somalia. &#8220;Action \u200bis needed now to prevent loss of lives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">(Reporting by Edwin Okoth; Writing by Vincent Mumo \u200bNzilani; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Sharon Singleton)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Aug 11 (Reuters) &#8211; Funding to tackle acute malnutrition in parts of Somalia has dropped by more than 80% this year, M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res said on Tuesday, even \u200cthough one in every four children screened in displacement camps in the southwest is severely \u200cmalnourished. MSF Health Adviser Mitchell Sangma said the United States had&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/a08d79a21fab916ee69968a332c32db395a78a3b5286fb4f14970c7ffb306693\/lightyear_networkapi\/resizefill_w800_h525%3Bquality_80%3Bformat_jpg\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Freuters.com%2F6e03476ebfaefd20c5d0c7aac9a9a5ab","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}