"Left with nothing" — in Somalia and Haiti, millions lose WFP assistance
Story | 29 September 2023
Emergency
Somalia is suffering the effects of the 2020-2023 drought – its longest on record – compounded by conflict and now, in some areas, flash floods. By the middle of 2023, 6.6 million people were forecast to face crisis-level food insecurity or worse.
A total of 1.8 million children are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2023, with 478,000 of them facing severe malnutrition and possibly at risk of death unless they receive immediate treatment. Huge numbers of people have been forced to flee their homes, with 1.4 million internally displaced since the start of the year due to drought, flooding and conflict.
Famine was narrowly averted in 2022 due to an unprecedented scale-up of humanitarian assistance. However, significant funding cuts have since forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to almost halve its life-saving food assistance, which was down to 2.4 million people at the end of July 2023 – a 49 percent cut from 4.7 million people at the peak of the scale-up. If life-saving coverage cannot be restored, disaster could still be just around the corner. WFP is currently facing a US$332 million funding gap over the next six months.