Somalia faces another hunger crisis and the UN food agency head says it has far less funds to help
The World Food Program says it can reach only the worst-hit children as aid cuts and conflict deepen hunger across the country.
- On Wednesday, World Food Program Executive Director Carl Skau stated the agency operates with one-tenth of its 2022 resources while 6 million people in Somalia face acute food insecurity.
- Drought, rising food prices, and a 20-year insurgency by the al-Shabab militant group drive the crisis; Skau noted that Middle East conflict further restricts supplies and diverts humanitarian funding.
- At the Feynuus Health Center in Mogadishu, program director Abdirahman Barkhad reports receiving up to 350 patients daily; with 10 nearby facilities closed due to funding cuts, the WFP projects 1.9 million children under age 5 face acute malnutrition this year.
- Mother Halima Mohamed Hassan fled Lower Shabelle after her husband died, walking nearly 3 kilometers to reach aid with her 4-year-old child, though she remains unable to bring her five other hungry children for treatment.
- Funding constraints mean the WFP cannot expand operations to meet needs, as Skau stated the agency can only provide the "bare minimum" of nutrition supplies to the worst-hit children.
17 Articles
17 Articles
Somalia faces another hunger crisis and the U.N. food agency head says it has far less funds to help
Six million people in Somalia are facing acute food insecurity while the World Food Program has only a tenth of the resources it had in 2022 when it helped avert famine in the drought- and conflict-stricken East African nation, the head of the U.N. agency told The Associated Press.
Associated Press News
Somalia faces another hunger crisis and the UN food agency head says it has far less funds to help
Six million people are facing acute food insecurity in Somalia while the World Food Program only has a tenth of the resources to help than it did during the country's last hunger crisis.
Six million people in Somalia face acute food insecurity, while the World Food Programme has barely one tenth of its resources in 2022, when it helped prevent a famine in the East African nation hit by drought and conflict, the head of the UN agency told The Associated Press.
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