Concerned man sitting in blue plastic chair with child suffering from malnutrition sitting on his lap

Somalia Hunger Appeal

In Somalia, a deadly combination of conflict and drought is pushing children to the brink of starvation. Your support is urgently needed.

More than half of all children under the age of five in Somalia are malnourished, and nearly 500,000 children are currently at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition - the most severe level of malnutrition.

Families are forced to make the potentially life-threatening decision to flee their homes, in search of safety and life-saving support for their children in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps.

Our teams are working tirelessly to be there for families when they arrive, providing the vital emergency care and therapeutic food their children desperately need.

Ali and Jama

Man holding malnourished child on his lap, eating therapeutic food in health centre

Ali* (38) and his son Jama* in the Obosibo Halane Health Centre In Wadajir District , Mogadishu, supported by Concern Worldwide. Photo: Ed Ram/Concern Worldwide

We met Ali*, 38, at a health centre in Wadajir District, Mogadishu, where he was seeking treatment for his 13-month-old son Jama*. Jama was clearly suffering from severe acute malnutrition and was in urgent need of life-saving care.

Ali and sixteen family members, including his seven children, were driven out of their village due to a combination of deadly conflict and lack of rainfall over five failed rainy seasons.

We were pastoralists and farmers but due to conflict, we lost it all. My town is very restricted by armed groups, so we ran away.

Ali* - Pastoralist

Ali - a pastoralist - and his family witnessed terrible attacks in their village, and had 15 goats and two camels taken from them by armed groups. The remaining animals did not survive the drought, and Ali was no longer able to make an income from selling animal milk.

Despite the danger he and his family could face, Ali and his family squeezed into a truck and travelled 400km for three days with no food and little water, in search of safety and treatment for their starving children.

*Names have been changed

Concern's response

Ali and his family eventually found shelter at an IDP camp in Mogadishu, where community health workers found Jama and referred him to the clinic.

Here, Jama was given nutritious therapeutic food, and began to gain weight. In the space of three months, he has made a full recovery. However, Jama is not the only child suffering. There are thousands of children like Jama who are in desperate need of life-saving food and assistance.

The number of children coming to our health clinics is growing by the day, and with so many in urgent need of treatment, supplies are running dangerously low.