For three days, Halima Abdullahi Ibrahim trekked nearly 90 kilometres from her village in Somalia to Kismayo Referral Hospital with her 3‑year‑old daughter, Asho Hassan Abdi, whose swollen body required urgent medical care unavailable locally.
At the hospital, Asho was taken to the stabilization centre, where a health worker examined her feet and lower legs and diagnosed severe acute malnutrition, a condition that can be fatal if untreated. The case reflects a national emergency: an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis estimates that 1.92 million Somali children between 6 months and almost 5 years will suffer or are already suffering from acute malnutrition by June 2027, including 433,000 expected to experience severe acute malnutrition.
The hospital admitted 152 children with severe acute malnutrition in August, with four deaths reported by Jubbaland Health Minister Ismail Garas. Humanitarian organisations face shrinking resources; the World Food Programme can now provide only limited assistance, according to an AP report. UNICEF Somalia representative Sandra Lattouf said children are dying from malnutrition while outbreaks of measles and other illnesses increase risk, and she urged closer cooperation among community health workers, local leaders, government authorities and aid agencies.
Displacement and potential flooding add to the crisis. At the Luglow settlement on the outskirts of Kismayo, families live in dome‑shaped shelters made from bent branches and patched plastic, with dirty water pooling in ruts. Jubbaland commissioner for refugees and internally displaced people Ali Adan Ali warned that many families have received no aid since 2023 due to funding gaps, and that flooding could force more people to move toward Kismayo, further straining settlements, nutrition centres and hospitals. Sweden’s ambassador to Somalia Hans Henric Lundquist visited the nutrition centre with Lattouf and called for smarter, community‑focused resilience building amid global funding shortages.
