Woman in Somalia washing her hands and practicing good hygiene after Action Against Hunger awareness raising following the Covid-19 pandemic

Somalia

Somalia is experiencing a prolonged and complex crisis characterised by conflict, displacement, drought and disease.

Ongoing conflict, together with the devastating effects of Covid-19, drought, floods and locust infestation, have left many communities in Somalia even more vulnerable.

Malnutrition rates are high particularly among children, with almost one million children under five suffering from life-threatening hunger.
The influx of people from rural regions to urban areas also puts a strain on already limited resources – 893,000 people were forced to flee their homes in 2020 because of flooding and conflict.

Country facts

  • 1,435,789

    Action Against Hunger's programmes reached almost 1.5 million people in 2020.

  • 15.4M

    Somalia has a population of more than 15 million people.

  • 1M

    One million Somalian children under five suffer from severe acute malnutrition – the most life-threatening form of hunger.

Our projects in Somalia

Action Against Hunger’s work in Somalia focus on treating women and children for malnutrition and providing clean water and sanitation. In 2020, our programmes in Somalia included:

  • reaching over 500,000 people through our nutrition programmes
  • treating children and pregnant and breastfeeding women for malnutrition
  • supporting vulnerable families with cash transfers, allowing them buy food and essential services during severe droughts
  • distributing essential hygiene kits through our water, sanitation and hygiene programmes
  • raising awareness of Covid-19 by text message and on the radio
  • adapting our nutrition programmes so they can be held virtually
Mohamed eats ready-to-use therapeutic food at an Action Against Hunger stabilisation centre in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Treating the early signs of malnutrition

After being admitted with malnutrition to an Action Against Hunger health centre in Mogadishu, Somalia, two-year-old Mohamed was able to go home after just ten days.

Read Mohamed's story
Halima and her mother Fatuma in Somalia. Halima recovered from life-threatening malnutrition thanks to the support of Action Against Hunger.

Meet Halima

When 20-month-old Halima was admitted to one of our treatment centres in Somalia, she showed all the signs of life-threating hunger. She was underweight, she had swollen feet and hands, and her hair had started to fall out.

Read her story

Our response to Covid-19 in Somalia

With an already depleted health care system, Somalia now also faces the threat of the Covid-19.

Coronavirus is spreading rapidly in the country and will put the most vulnerable communities most at risk. Some regions lack the basic resources to fight the virus and healthcare facilities and hospitals are ill equipped to face a pandemic of this scale.

In settlement camps, where many displaced families live, social distancing is almost impossible.

“I haven’t seen these levels of need in my life. We’re quite worried about the situation for the most vulnerable populations in Somalia.”

Hajir Maalim, Action Against Hunger’s Regional Director in East Africa

We’ve been working with the Ministry of Health as part of the country’s coronavirus prevention response. We’re supporting the only quarantine hospital in the capital, Mogadishu and supporting the government’s response with vehicles, emergency staff and contact tracing, as well as supplying essential testing kits and personal protective equipment.

Women social distancing as they wait for appointments for nutrition treatments during the Covid-19 pandemic

Save lives today

Help more vulnerable communities in Somalia tackle hunger.

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