Triple Hunger Shock Pushes Millions to the Edge in Somalia

A brutal convergence of prolonged drought, skyrocketing global prices, and shrinking humanitarian aid has unleashed one of Somalia’s worst hunger crises in years—pushing five million people across the Horn of Africa nation to the brink.

In Puntland, displaced pastoralist communities are bearing the heaviest toll. Mahad Farah Muse is among some 200,000 Somalis who have fled their homes this year, most due to drought.

“Even when a little rain fell before, it didn’t last. That small amount is now gone,” Muse said. “If rain doesn’t come soon, people may start dying. Just like the livestock. People depended on livestock. Now the livestock are gone. Everything has been lost.”

With three consecutive failed rainy seasons, displacement camps are swelling with families who have lost their homes, herds, and livelihoods. Cattle, goats, and sheep can no longer find pasture.

According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), 6.5 million people are already facing crisis-level hunger or worse. The agency warns that funding gaps and soaring costs are crippling the relief effort.

“What we’re seeing across the entire country is a malnutrition crisis. We simply don’t have the resources to respond as we should,” a WFP spokesperson said. “This is made absolutely worse by the Middle East crisis, which is driving up prices across the country—fuel by 150 percent, even basic food commodities by at least 20 to 30 percent.”

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, triggered by the war in the Middle East, is forcing aid shipments to take longer, costlier routes to Somalia—severely delaying deliveries.

Aid workers describe this as a “triple shock of hunger”: relentless drought, exploding costs, and constrained relief efforts. Together, they threaten to push millions more into catastrophe in the coming months.