The global funding crisis for humanitarian work is taking a growing toll on the most vulnerable children in Somalia, where some aid programmes and facilities have been forced to shut down.
Hajio is one of many experiencing the brunt of these cuts. She lived a relatively prosperous life - she had a home and her children went to school. But all her cattle died because of the drought, and she had to flee her home area for help.
She hurried to the town of Burhakaba in southwest Somalia because she had heard support would be available there. Yet upon arrival, she received only some clothes and tomatoes from one of the country's poorest communities living nearby.
"She received nothing from the international community," stressed UN Children's Fund ( UNICEF ) spokesperson James Elder, briefing journalists in Geneva on Friday.
Malnourished children
Due to unprecedented cuts in humanitarian aid, over 200 health and nutrition facilities have already closed in Somalia - and according to the most severe predictions, the number could jump to 618.
The consequences have been immediate and very serious. Compared to last year, Somalia has seen a 32 per cent increase in children admitted to stabilisation centres with severe acute malnutrition and complications.
This is not because more children are getting sick, but because they can no longer access preventive and community-based nutrition services previously available to them.
"Fewer facilities mean longer journeys for mums and their babies; longer journeys mean later treatment; later treatment means more severe illness and a greater risk of preventable death," warned Mr. Elder.
Nearly one million children under five, adolescent girls and women risk losing access to nutrition services in the country.
Bad timing
These funding cuts come as Somalia's humanitarian needs are spiking dramatically.
This year, nearly 1.9 million children are projected to be affected by malnutrition, including almost half a million with the deadly "severe acute" form.
The country has been plunged into civil war for decades at a time, leading to mass displacement and extreme food insecurity for millions.
The ongoing US-Iran war is also complicating matters by raising the costs of fuel and fertiliser, and the worsening climate crisis is threatening to further disrupt food provisions.
The country is currently navigating severe droughts in the north, while also preparing to undergo extreme flooding caused by the stronger-than-ever El Niño weather pattern ( Read our El Niño explainer here ).
"It is a brutal contradiction: the resources to protect vulnerable children are being cut at precisely the moment when the pressures pushing Somalia's children into crisis are intensifying," Mr. Elder underscored.
Preventable crisis
The UN has been an active partner in Somalia, distributing cholera vaccinations to over a million people, supporting education programmes for over 100,000 young students, and rehabilitating children recruited into armed groups - often by force.
"We have the programmes. We have the partners. What is missing is the funding," underscored Mr. Elder.
Between 2021 and 2025, UNICEF supported more than 2.25 million children with severe acute malnutrition, with a cure rate of 97.6 per cent in 2025.
But the agency is unlikely to keep up these results under these new constraints.
"Years of generous donor investment in children's futures is being undone far faster than they were built," warned Mr. Elder.
"Protecting children is not a discretionary expense. Preventing suffering is not an inefficiency. And dismantling effective aid at the moment of greatest need is not a saving: it is a decision to pay more later, in money, in security, in lost development and, for some children - in lives."
