MOGADISHU, Somalia — Life-saving food and nutrition assistance provided to Somalia by the World Food Programme(WFP) could stop completely by April 2026 unless urgent new funding is provided, the organization warned on Friday, potentially abandoning millions of vulnerable people in the throes of one of the worst hunger crises in years.
The organization, in a press statement this week, said it is experiencing ‘disastrous’ funding gaps and is already severely limiting emergency food assistance for beneficiaries, dropping to roughly 600,000 people now, down from over 2.2 million at the beginning of 2025, due to steep drops in donor funding. The agency says it anticipates stopping humanitarian aid entirely by April if new funding isn’t found, which “could push entire communities further towards starvation”.
Somalia has been affected by two years of failed rains, a continued conflict, displacement, and increased food insecurity, with the UN agency saying some 4.4 million Somalis, a quarter of the population, are at crisis level or worse in terms of food insecurity, and nearly 1 million are acutely hungry-a situation eerily akin to the brink of famine narrowly avoided in 2022.
Support for nutrition programs has also been cut back substantially, including a reduction in the support offered to pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children. The agency estimates it needs $95 million to continue assistance between March and August of next year, but warned that if it is not forthcoming, “The humanitarian, economic, and security implications will be dire”.