Health workers at a clinic in Baidoa, southwest Somalia, wrap a colour-coded malnutrition tape around a child's arm. The reading falls in the red zone, indicating severe malnutrition. Nearby, another child is weighed as mothers wait with sick children outside a health centre in Elbet 1 internally displaced persons (IDP) camp.

The scenes reflect findings from a survey conducted by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Somalia's Ministry of Health among displaced families in Baidoa.

"We surveyed 888 households, and in this we found that at least one in every second child is malnourished, and of which at least one in every four children has severe acute malnutrition," said Isah Mohammed, Baidoa project medical referent.

At Bay Regional Hospital, children receive treatment for malnutrition and related complications while parents keep watch beside crowded ward beds.

Abdi Isse said his child had been ill for weeks before reaching the hospital, while another parent, Habibo Ahmed, said she brought her daughter for treatment after months of illness.

MSF says admissions have risen sharply in recent months. Isah Mohammed said the hospital's inpatient therapeutic feeding centre had expanded from 50 beds to 150 beds as the number of severely malnourished children requiring treatment increased. Nearly 3,000 children with severe acute malnutrition and complications have been treated at the facility so far this year, according to MSF.

Speaking at a briefing in Nairobi on Tuesday (August 11), MSF Health Advisor Dr. Mitchell Sangma said hospitals were struggling to cope with the growing number of severe cases.

"We are running out of space," Sangma said, adding that many children discharged from treatment return to environments where food and clean drinking water are scarce, only to be admitted again when their condition deteriorates.

Those conditions are visible in displacement camps around Baidoa, where families driven from their homes by drought live in makeshift shelters and queue for water. Ibrahim Ali, Baidoa project coordinator for MSF, said many families arriving in the camps had been displaced by drought and were struggling with water shortages.

Among them is Muna Ibrahim, who said she fled her home in search of assistance.

"We did not have medicine or water, and I was displaced from my home," she said. "The only assistance I have received is a water container. I have not received any other aid."

MSF says the humanitarian crisis is being compounded by shrinking donor support, raising fears of a repeat of Somalia's 2022 near-famine as malnutrition rates continue to rise.

According to the organisation, only about $300 million in donor funding is currently available for Somalia, compared with roughly $2.2 billion provided during a similar drought crisis in 2022. MSF says U.S. support for aid agencies in Somalia fell from about $70 million last year to no funding this year, while other Western donors have also reduced contributions, leaving humanitarian organisations struggling to respond as needs increase.

Mohammed said Somalia's humanitarian fund had been cut significantly this year and urged donors to restore support for nutrition programmes and other life-saving services, warning that without a stronger response vulnerable families would face worsening hardship.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

Somalia malnutrition response hit by funding cuts as child hunger surges, MSF says

VIDEO SHOWS: PARENTS WITH CHILDREN LAYING ON BED IN HOSPITAL WARD / HEALTH WORKER TAKING MEASUREMENTS OF MALNOURISHED CHILD, USING THE MID-UPPER ARM CIRCUMFERENCE (MUAC) TAPE / PEOPLE QUEUING WITH WATER JERRICANS AT WATER COLLECTION POINT / PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE OF HEALTH CENTRE AT ELBET INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS (IDP) CAMP / SOUNDBITES FROM LOCALS AND HEALTH ADVISOR MSF, DR. MITCHELLL SANGMA

SHOWS: BAIDOA, SOMALIA (AUGUST 10, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE HEALTH CENTRE AT ELBET 1 INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS (IDP) CAMP

2. VARIOUS OF HEALTH WORKER MEASURING MALNOURISHED CHILD'S MID-UPPER ARM CIRCUMFERENCE (MUAC)

3. MUAC TAPE AROUND CHILD'S UPPER ARM SHOWING RED ZONE

4. VARIOUS OF CHILD BEING WEIGHED IN HANGING SCALE AT HEALTH CENTRE

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BAIDOA PROJECT MEDICAL REFERENT, ISAH MOHAMMED, SAYING:

"MSF, with collaboration, of course, with the Ministry of Health, conducted a survey in Baidoa here among the IDP population. In total, we surveyed 888 households, and in this we found that at least one in every second child is malnourished, and of which at least one in every four children has severe acute malnutrition."

6. EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL WITH SIGN READING (English): "Bay Regional Hospital Baidoa - Somalia"

7. PARENTS WITH CHILDREN LYING ON BEDS IN HOSPITAL WARD

8. MALNOURISHED CHILD LYING ON BED

9. PARENT, ABDI ISSE, WITH HIS MALNOURISHED CHILD LYING ON BED

10. INTRAVENOUS DRIP ATTACHED TO ISSE'S CHILD'S HAND

11. (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) PARENT WITH MALNOURISHED CHILD, ABDI ISSE, SAYING:

"My child had been sick for a month and a half, and we kept her at home. God knows we did not know that we could get medical assistance. We gave her a small amount of medicine, but it did not help."

12. MOTHER SITTING ON BED BESIDE HER CHILD

13. CHILD BREATHING WITH OXYGEN MASK ON

14. HOSPITAL MACHINE

15. VARIOUS OF MOTHER OF MALNOURISHED CHILD, HABIBO AHMED, SITTING BESIDE HER DAUGHTER IN HOSPITAL WARD

16. VARIOUS OF MOTHERS HOLDING THEIR CHILDREN WHILE SEATED ON HOSPITAL BEDS

17. (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) MOTHER OF MALNOURISHED CHILD, HABIBO AHMED, SAYING:

"She (her daughter) is seven years old and was born with a disability. She had been sick for about three months. I brought her to the hospital being carried, and I did not know what was wrong with her. She is now receiving treatment."

18. VARIOUS OF DOCTOR CHECKING CHILD LYING ON BED

19. MOTHERS HOLDING THEIR CHILDREN WHILE SEATED ON HOSPITAL BEDS

20. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BAIDOA PROJECT MEDICAL REFERENT, ISAH MOHAMMED, SAYING:

"I would say that the cases have increased over the last couple of months we've seen. Initially, this is a 50-bed capacity ITFC (inpatient therapeutic feeding centre), but over the last couple of months, we have been forced to increase this number of beds to 150 beds at one time in this hospital. So far this year, we have admitted and treated in this very facility 2,980 severely malnourished patients with complications. And this number has significantly increased when we compare this to 2025, where the figures are way less than what we are seeing right now."

21. VARIOUS OF MOTHERS HOLDING THEIR CHILDREN WHILE SEATED ON HOSPITAL BEDS

22. PATIENT LYING ON HOSPITAL BED

NAIROBI, KENYA (AUGUST 11, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

23. SPEAKERS LISTENING DURING MSF NEWS BRIEFING

24. BANNER READING (English): "Doctors Without Borders"

25. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEALTH ADVISER, MSF, DR. MITCHELL SANGMA, SAYING:

"Severity of the cases that we are seeing in the hospital like 90% of these malnourished children, they are presenting with medical complications that require specialized medical treatment. And we are running out of space. And our team on the ground has to make very difficult decisions every day about who to admit and who to discharge. And of course, we have to discharge the least severe cases only to be readmitted again after a week when they go back to the environment, and then when there is no food, when there is no clean drinking water, they present with complications only to be readmitted again."

BAIDOA, SOMALIA (AUGUST 10, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

26. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AND CHILDREN WALKING PAST MAKESHIFT TENTS IN ELBET 1 IDP CAMP

27. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE QUEUING WITH WATER JERRYCANS AT WATER COLLECTION POINT

28. WOMAN CARRYING WATER JERRYCAN ON HER BACK

29. VARIOUS OF MSF STAFF TALKING TO NEWLY DISPLACED WOMAN IN IDP CAMP, MUNA IBRAHIM

30. (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) NEWLY DISPLACED WOMAN IN IDP CAMP, MUNA IBRAHIM, SAYING:

"We did not have a good life here. We did not have medicine or water, and I was displaced from my home. When I came here, I was suffering from pain in my leg and I received treatment at the SOS hospital. The only assistance I have received is a water container. I have not received any other aid."

31. VARIOUS OF MSF STAFF TALKING TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT IDP CAMP

32. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BAIDOA PROJECT MEDICAL REFERENT, ISAH MOHAMMED, SAYING:

"When you look at the Somalia humanitarian fund this year, already by 2026 the fund has been cut to about 40%, and only 1/3 of this 40% has been committed by the donors. So this, I think, might have contributed overall to the situation that we are seeing. So it's a multifactorial situation that we are looking at in this case. But I think the most important thing is to try to have a concerted effort. Towards dealing with it. And this is to restore the funding to Somalia, donors to have a more concerted effort targeted towards malnutrition in Somalia that might lead to improvement in the overall global nutritional status of people here"

33. PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE HEALTH CENTRE AT IDP CAMP

34. HEALTH OFFICIALS HOLDING DOWN CHILD FOR MEASUREMENT / CROWD OF PEOPLE INSIDE CENTRE

35. MOTHERS HOLDING THEIR CHILDREN, QUEUING

36. VARIOUS OF MSF STAFF WALKING PAST MAKESHIFT TENTS IN IDP CAMP