There has been a malnutrition outbreak and at least one confirmed death from it at a displacement camp in the Gedo district of Somalia as severe drought worsens humanitarin conditions in the country, Islamic Relief aid workers there report.
Humanitarian workers warn many more will die without urgent aid. The drought – caused by four consecutive failed rainy seasons – has wiped out crops, livestock and water sources, forcing millions of people to flee their land and seek aid. Islamic Relief says the impact of the escalating war in the Middle East is now make the situation even worse, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupting global supplies and increasing the cost of fuel by as much as much as 134 % increasing food prices.
The malnutrition and death occurred at Iftin camp near Bardhere in Gedo district, where thousands of families have fled. Islamic Relief is providing food and other aid to people who are arriving in a desperate state after walking for 50-60kms in search of help. A joint assessment by UN agencies and NGOs found 80% of people in the district are surviving on just one meagre meal a day.
Awil Abukar Mohamed, Islamic Relief’s Senior Communication Coordinator in Somalia, has just visited Iftin camp. He says: “The silence is what haunts me most. It’s not the silence of peace, but the heavy stifling quiet of exhaustion. People have used all their energy just to get here, and many arrive weak, exhausted and close to death after walking for days. In the camp, young children and elderly people are staying under the scorching sun with no proper shelter and nothing to drink. Parents are going whole days without eating just so their children can have a few extra mouthfuls of food. Islamic Relief is providing people with food and cash so they can buy what they need in local markets, but it’s nowhere near enough. We urgently need to get more aid to people, before more people die.”
The drought is worsening in parts of Kenya and Ethiopia as well, destroying millions of lives and livelihoods across the wider Horn of Africa region. In Somalia the number of people facing acute hunger has doubled since last year to 6.5 million – almost one third of the entire population. At least 1.85 million children under five years old are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition. (1)
Islamic Relief spoke to numerous recent arrivals in Iftin camp:
Hawa Ibrahim Abdirahman, 26, endured a gruelling five-day trek to bring her children to Iftin, after the drought killed their entire herd of five camels, 10 cows and 25 goats. In the camp she cradles her severely malnourished youngest son but has no food to feed him. She says: “I have nothing to give him. He cannot even eat or drink anymore. Are we not deserving to live the way the rest of humans live? We are so tired of looking for help.”
Another mother, Muslimo Ali Mohamed, 32, had to carry her children for part of the journey. They walked for five days in extreme heat to reach Iftin from Bay region. She says: “I look at my kitchen and start crying because my children are asking for food I do not have.”
More people continue to arrive and local communities are supporting families however they can. But community leaders dread a further influx as resources are already overstretched and aid agencies are overwhelmed and underfunded.
Somalia is suffering increasingly frequent and deadly climate crises. Despite being one of the world’s lowest carbon emitters, it suffers some of the biggest impacts of climate change. Traditional ways of life are being destroyed and many people in Iftin and other camps are now forced to beg in the local town as they have no other way to earn a living. Humanitarian aid helped prevent large-scale loss of life during the last major drought, but global funding cuts mean the current response is falling far short of what is needed. The 2026 UN-led appeal for Somalia currently has just 13% of the funding it needs.
Notes
- Figures are from latest assessments from the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)
In 2025 Islamic Relief helped over 700,000 people in Somalia, such as providing humanitarian aid to displaced families and supporting farmers by improving irrigation systems and agricultural techniques.
