MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) 鈥� Six million people in Somalia are facing acute food insecurity while the has only a tenth of the resources it had in 2022 when it helped avert famine in the drought- and conflict-stricken , the head of the U.N. agency told The Associated Press.
鈥淲e can only do the bare minimum,鈥� WFP acting executive director Carl Skau said Wednesday during a visit to a nutrition center on the outskirts of the capital, Mogadishu. 鈥淲e鈥檙e only providing these nutrition supplies to the children that are really the worst hit.鈥�
The reduced funds, because of and the redirection of resources to other humanitarian crises, meant that the WFP is unable to expand its assistance in Somalia, Skau said.
Millions of people at risk but far less aid
The WFP projects that 1.9 million children under age 5 in will suffer acute malnutrition this year, including nearly 500,000 who will require urgent treatment for severe acute malnutrition. Overall, around faces critical levels of food insecurity, the U.N. has said.
鈥淲e had 10 times more resources than now,鈥� Skau said of the that was caused by a prolonged drought. 鈥淲e were able to step in, and we prevented a famine here in Somalia.”
鈥淲e know what鈥檚 going on, we have the capacity, we have the experience of dealing with this. We just need the resources now to do it.鈥�
The consequences of the current food shortage, which is also a result of drought, , are seen at the Feynuus Health Center in Mogadishu鈥檚 Kahda district. Dozens of women carrying babies waited beneath a large tree or crowded along the veranda of the corrugated-metal facility seeking help.
Inside, health workers placed children in a blue weighing sling, screened them for malnutrition, and distributed therapeutic food.
One desperate mother tells her story
Halima Mohamed Hassan, a mother of six, had walked nearly 3 kilometers (2 miles) carrying her malnourished 4-year-old child. She is pregnant, but said she hadn’t eaten for two days. Her last meal was plain rice.
Health workers treated the child she brought with a special nutrient-dense food, while Hassan said that her other children were also malnourished, but she wasn’t able to bring them to the center.
鈥淚 could not carry all of them,鈥� she said.
Hassan fled the four months ago after her husband died of malnutrition, she said. Food and water became scarce, and conflict made it increasingly dangerous for the family to stay.
She and her children walked for four nights before reaching a camp for internally displaced people on Mogadishu鈥檚 outskirts.
Hassan now shares a makeshift shelter with her widowed mother and her mother’s four other children. The two women look for occasional work washing clothes in nearby neighborhoods to feed their household of 12.
A health center tries its best to help
The Feynuus center receives between 250 and 350 patients daily, mainly displaced women and children from regions outside Mogadishu, said Abdirahman Barkhad, program director of Youth Link Somalia, which operates the center.
Barkhad said that about 10 nearby health and nutrition centers had closed because of a , increasing pressure on those that remain.
鈥淲e have witnessed children collapsing, because their families do not have enough food,鈥� he said.
Mohamud Moallim Abdulle, commissioner of the Somali Disaster Management Agency, described the country鈥檚 food situation as 鈥渆xtremely alarming.鈥�
He said that an estimated 1.85 million children are malnourished, while around 6 million people are affected by drought, and 2 million urgently need assistance.
They don鈥檛 know where their next meal is
Skau said that mothers he met this week in the town of Burhakaba described drought, insecurity, and also rising food prices as the main drivers of the crisis. Some had lost their crops and fled their homes. Others walked for three or four hours to reach health facilities, because aid workers couldn’t reach them.
鈥淚 spoke to women with eight to 10 children,鈥� Skau said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 know where the next meal is going to come from.鈥�
Insecurity, with Somalia battling a 20-year-long insurgency by the militant group, also makes humanitarian operations more expensive. WFP must use aircraft in areas where staff and supplies can’t travel safely by road, and some communities are inaccessible, Skau said.
He said that conflict in the Middle East was adding to the pressure by driving up fuel and food prices, limiting agricultural supplies, and drawing funding toward other emergencies.
After her child received some food at the center, Hassan began the walk back to the camp they live in. Her five other children were still waiting and hungry, she said, and she would have to return with them one at a time.
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