Save the Children has warned that at least 55,000 children in Somalia will lose access to lifesaving nutrition services by June as global aid cuts force the closure of 121 nutrition centres. The humanitarian organisation, the largest NGO provider of health and nutrition services to children in Somalia, says the cuts will affect over a quarter of its facilities, leaving vulnerable children without critical support amid rising malnutrition rates.
In Baidoa, one of the hardest-hit areas, all of Save the Children’s nutrition centres are set to shut down, impacting hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people already facing severe hunger and malnutrition. Dr. Mustafa Mohammed, who works at a stabilisation centre in Baidoa, warned that children suffering from severe acute malnutrition would have nowhere else to turn, saying, “If our centre closes, children such as these will be put into grave danger.”
Save the Children’s Country Director for Somalia, Mohamud Mohamed Hassan, expressed concern over the devastating impact of the aid cuts, urging donors to reconsider their funding decisions. “Unless funding is found, I fear that we will see deadly consequences for children as these aid cuts intersect with years of recurrent drought and political violence,” he said. Last year, Save the Children supported 3.2 million people across Somalia, including 1.9 million children.
