Somalia faces what experts are calling the worst drought on record as American aid reductions compound a humanitarian crisis affecting 6 million people, with the collapse of U.S. support leaving international agencies scrambling to fill a funding gap that has shrunk assistance to a fraction of previous levels.
Aid funding to Somalia dropped to $531 million in 2025 in large part because of aid cuts by the United States, which had been Somalia's top donor. In 2022, aid funding was nearly five times as much at $2.38 billion. The U.N. World Food Program said it intended to help 2 million people with food aid this year but has reached only 300,000 because of funding gaps.
Unprecedented Climate Crisis
Most of Abdi Ahmed Farah's hundreds of goats have died in Puntland, Somalia, where it has not rained steadily for three years. The 70-year-old pastoralist is in debt from buying water, and his family is down to one meal a day: rice with sugar and oil. Farah once had 680 goats, but a lack of food and water as well as diseases exacerbated by drought have claimed all but 110 of them, barely clinging to life.
Hameed Nuru, the U.N. World Food Program director for Somalia, said, "2026 is the worst year on record for Somalia in terms of drought. Children have started dying." Production of staple crops of maize and sorghum in the October-December rainy season was the lowest on record in Somalia, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
The number of Somalis currently facing food insecurity stands at 6 million, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report released on Thursday. Although the figure is lower than the 6.5 million reported in February, it is higher than the projected 5.5 million indicated in the February report. Food security experts warn that nearly a half-million children might face severe acute malnutrition, the harshest kind. That would be higher than the number of children requiring treatment for it during droughts in 2011 and 2022, according to UNICEF.
Economic Collapse and Rising Costs
The crisis is compounded by rising prices from the Iran war. Somalia buys most of its fuel from the Middle East, and 70% of its food is imported. Private water trucks have quadrupled their prices and the cost of a 50-kilogram bag of flour has increased by a third, to $40.
In Usgure, home to 700 families, community leader Abshir Hirsi Ali said the local economy has collapsed because they rely on pastoralists like Farah. Shops have closed and food rations have run low. Farah said, "There is no market for my goats because they are so thin. Previously we would trade them for rice, but now we can't."
Muhubo Tahir Omar, a 47-year-old mother of 11 children, said, "I'm not only afraid for my family but the future of the whole village." Omar, like other parents, had sold her goats to pay for school fees, "but when we didn't pay, the teachers left." Her last goat is now sick.
Donor Response Falls Short
Antoine Grand, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Somalia, said, "Unless there is a sudden and substantial response from donors, the outlook is deeply concerning. A drought of similar severity in 2022 received a response five times greater than what we are seeing." Drought ravaged Somalia in 2022 and an estimated 36,000 people died, according to the U.N.
The drought has displaced another 200,000 this year, the U.N. estimates. Kevin Mackey, the Somalia director for humanitarian group World Vision, said, "People are on the move … and when people move, people die." He recently met people who had walked for nine days to get aid in Dollow in the south.
A center at the hospital in Qardho, Puntland, treats children with severe acute malnutrition. But therapeutic milk is now rarely in stock, and nurses resort to homemade alternatives such as cow's milk, said director Shamis Abdirahman. The center receives around 15 children a month, but they expect more as displaced people arrive.
Mohamed Assair, a manager with Save the Children in Puntland, said, "This drought is not just another cycle of dry season. It's a repeated climate shock with shrinking humanitarian support." Aid agencies are trying to maximize resources and the Somali diaspora is sending money to help, but humanitarian workers warn it is not enough.
Why This Matters:
The withdrawal of U.S. assistance exposes the fiscal limitations of international humanitarian architecture and raises fundamental questions about donor sustainability and recipient dependency. The dramatic reduction from $2.38 billion to $531 million demonstrates the vulnerability of aid-dependent systems when major contributors reassess their commitments. The crisis also highlights how decades of conflict in Somalia have displaced millions of people, creating conditions where natural disasters become catastrophic. With food prices rising due to regional instability and 70% of Somalia's food imported, the country's lack of agricultural self-sufficiency and economic diversification leaves it exposed to external shocks. The situation tests whether international organizations and diaspora networks can compensate for major donor withdrawals, and whether market-based solutions and local capacity-building might offer more sustainable alternatives to traditional aid dependency models.