A Mother’s 90-Kilometer Journey for Care Highlights Somalia’s Severe Child Malnutrition Crisis

KISMAYO, Somalia — For three grueling days, Halima Abdullahi Ibrahim carried her three-year-old daughter on her back, walking nearly 90 kilometers (56 miles) from their village to Kismayo Referral Hospital. The young girl’s body was severely swelling, and she desperately needed medical care that was simply unavailable closer to home.

Upon finally reaching the hospital, Halima’s daughter, Asho Hassan Abdi, was immediately admitted to the stabilization center. The white-walled ward was lined with metal-framed beds, some draped with mosquito nets. Halima cradled Asho in her lap, the young child wrapped in a purple cloth, as a health worker carefully examined her swollen feet and lower legs.

Doctors diagnosed Asho with edema, a critical symptom of severe acute malnutrition.

Asho’s case is a stark reflection of a national emergency. According to an analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, approximately 1.92 million Somali children aged six months to nearly five years old are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition requiring treatment over the one-year period ending June 2027. This critical figure includes an estimated 433,000 children expected to face severe acute malnutrition, the most life-threatening form of the crisis.

More than half of Somalia’s projected malnutrition cases are concentrated in the southern regions, where communities grapple with disease outbreaks, severe food insecurity, and limited access to essential health services, clean water, and sanitation. Anticipated flooding linked to the El Niño phenomenon threatens to displace additional families, further restricting access to these life-saving services.

Kismayo Referral Hospital, where Asho is receiving care, admitted 152 children with severe acute malnutrition during August alone, four of whom tragically died, according to Jubbaland Health Minister Ismail Garas.

This escalating crisis coincides with a severe depletion of humanitarian resources. As reported in August, the World Food Program is able to offer only limited assistance despite the soaring demand. Somalia’s emergency is emblematic of a broader global retreat in humanitarian funding, undermining efforts to combat hunger, disease, and poverty worldwide.

Sandra Lattouf, the Somalia representative for the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF, warned that children are succumbing to malnutrition, while concurrent illnesses such as measles exacerbate the threat to their lives.

“We must do significantly more to protect them,” Lattouf stated during an interview with the Associated Press in Kismayo.

She emphasized the urgent need for enhanced collaboration among community health workers, local leaders, government authorities, and humanitarian organizations.

The devastating effects of displacement and reduced aid are palpable at the Luglow settlement on the outskirts of Kismayo, a port city of over 250,000 people in southern Somalia. Across the red earth, dome-shaped shelters constructed from bent branches and patched plastic sheeting dot the landscape, with dirty water pooling in the ruts between them.

At the settlement’s nutrition center, mothers sit on mats with their young children in their laps as members of a visiting UNICEF delegation crouch down to engage with them.

Ali Adan Ali, Jubbaland’s commissioner for refugees and internally displaced people, noted that many displaced families have received no humanitarian assistance since 2023 due to a lack of funding among aid organizations.

“The current situation of internally displaced persons in Jubbaland is extremely dire,” Ali stated.

He warned that impending flooding could force residents along the Juba River to migrate toward the higher-elevation city of Kismayo, placing immense additional pressure on local settlements, nutrition centers, and hospitals.

Sweden’s ambassador to Somalia, Hans Henric Lundquist, visited the Luglow nutrition center alongside Lattouf, meeting with local officials, mothers, and children. He stressed that aid agencies must work more closely with communities as funding becomes increasingly scarce.

“We must focus on building resilience, as global funding is increasingly constrained,” Lundquist said. “We need to adopt smarter, more efficient strategies than we have in the past.”

Halima’s arduous journey illustrates the profound challenges faced by a single family: severe poverty, vast distances, and a healthcare system strained by growing needs and diminishing international aid can separate a severely malnourished child from life-saving specialized care—a dire situation where every day can be a matter of life or death.

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