World Food Programme: Millions of people in Somalia face hun

The United Nations World Food Programme stated on the 4th that currently, out of over 18 million people in Somalia, about 3.4 million are facing severe food shortages. Due to factors such as ongoing drought, conflict, and reduced aid funding, the number of people facing hunger threats in Somalia is likely to increase to 4.4 million in the coming months.

The World Food Programme predicts that by December 2025, approximately 1.7 million children under the age of five are expected to experience acute malnutrition, with 466000 children in severe acute malnutrition. This situation is undoubtedly worrying, as children are the most vulnerable group in society, and malnutrition will have extremely adverse effects on their growth and future development.

Persistent drought is one of the key factors leading to food shortages in Somalia. The World Food Programme predicts that the precipitation in Somalia will remain below average between April and June this year. Long term drought has caused the land to dry and crack, crops to fail to grow normally, and animal husbandry has also suffered heavy losses, with a large number of livestock deaths. This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to Somalia, which relies mainly on agriculture and animal husbandry as its main economic source.

In addition to natural factors, conflicts have also posed great challenges to Somalia's food security. Regional conflicts lead to social unrest, infrastructure damage, and disruptions in agricultural production and food transportation. Farmers are unable to cultivate with peace of mind, causing disruptions in the food supply chain and further exacerbating the situation of food shortage.

The reduction of aid funds has further exacerbated the food crisis in Somalia. The World Food Programme has reduced its aid to Somalia, with only over 800000 Somalis currently receiving assistance, which is far from the peak of 2.2 million in 2022. The funding required for Somalia's humanitarian needs and response plan in 2025 is 1.42 billion US dollars, but as of now, only 12.4% of the funds have been received. The shortage of funds has made it difficult for the World Food Programme to meet the needs of many hungry people when implementing aid operations.

According to the World Food Programme's Comprehensive Classification of Food Security Stages, Somalia is in the third stage or above of this classification. Among them, the third stage is a "crisis" or more severe state of food insecurity, the fourth stage is an emergency situation, and the most severe fifth stage is a "disaster" level state of food insecurity. The current situation in Somalia poses a serious threat to the lives, health, and social stability of the local population. It is urgent for the international community to lend a helping hand and provide emergency assistance to alleviate the food crisis and prevent further deterioration of the humanitarian disaster.