Enhancing Emergency Health & Nutrition Response in Somalia

Amid Somalia’s worsening hunger crisis, Concern is delivering critical malnutrition treatment, primary healthcare, and community health services at scale.

The challenge

For the last few years, Somalia has ranked as the world’s “hungriest” country on the Global Hunger Index, and is facing an escalating health and nutrition crisis. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has recorded a rise in acute malnutrition in the country for two consecutive years and estimates that, in 2026, 1.84 million Somali children will be affected by it. This includes 483,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition that will require urgent treatment. 

Amid these growing needs, funding cuts in 2025 had a significant impact on health and nutrition responses in Somalia, forcing hundreds of health facilities to either close or reduce their services and threatening the long-term operations of the country’s largest treatment center for severe acute malnutrition, located just outside of Mogadishu. Concern, which has worked in Somalia for 40 years, was also affected by these cuts and faced the prospect of only reaching 45% of our planned nutrition program participants. 

A proven solution

Despite these critical cuts, detecting, treating, and preventing malnutrition have been at the heart of Concern’s work in Somalia since we began working in the country in 1986. We also played a key role in developing the program known as CMAM (Community Management of Acute Malnutrition), which the World Health Organization has designated the gold standard of care for this condition. 

Beyond treatment, Concern addresses the underlying causes of malnutrition through community-based support groups, including Mother-to-Mother and Father-to-Father networks, which create safe and supportive networks for caregivers to discuss nutrition as well as other ways to support their family’s overall health. 

The solutions are in place to support people most affected by the cycle of larger crises in Somalia, particularly those who have been displaced by either conflict or drought and are living in informal internal displacement sites around Mogadishu. However, as of July 2025, the UN-led Somalia Humanitarian Response Plan was less than 12% funded. Among the different sectors of the plan, nutrition had made the least progress with just 3% of the required funds. 

A cost-effective solution and a critical investment

GiveWell is an independent, nonprofit research organization dedicated to finding and funding outstanding opportunities in global health and development. Over the past 18 years, the organization has helped to guide more than 150,000 donors and $2.6 billion to the most promising programs that they have identified through their research. 

In 2025, Concern’s health and nutrition work in Somalia was among those programs, with co-founder and CEO Elie Hassenfeld describing our program as “a cost-effective way to provide food and healthcare during this critical moment.” 

GiveWell recommended Concern to Coefficient Giving, a philanthropic funder and advisor that works with a range of donors who share its commitment to cost-effective, high-impact giving. In turn, Coefficient Giving has invested $3 million in Concern’s work to provide acute malnutrition treatment and primary healthcare in Somalia. 

A four-pronged approach

Concern is enhancing access to essential health and nutrition services for Somalis who have been especially affected by funding cuts, through a combination of direct implementation and local partnerships. 

Over an 18-month timeframe, Enhancing Emergency Health & Nutrition Response in Somalia will reach nearly 169,000 people through a four-pronged approach: 

1. Delivering quality outpatient medical consultation to affected communities via decentralized health centers and mobile clinics, free of charge.
2. Providing treatment and preventative care for severe acute malnutrition to children under the age of five via our CMAM program.
3. Community-based interventions and treatment for severe acute malnutrition and three critical diseases: malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea. 
4. Capacity-building for community health workers on malnutrition detection and referrals.

 

These activities are taking place in some of the most critical areas of Somalia for both malnutrition and other key health issues across the Banadir, Lower Shabelle, and Gedo regions. Through Enhancing Emergency Health & Nutrition Response, we’re supporting nine healthcare facilities (including two mobile clinics) and four community-based case management and nutrition sites. 

Hitting the ground running

Enhancing Emergency Health & Nutrition Response began at the end of 2025, but we went to work quickly, with nearly 44,000 people reached by the program in its first few weeks – largely through critical outpatient services. 

This speaks to a larger program impact that Concern Somalia has been able to maintain with the support from private and public donors. In 2025 overall, Concern Somalia reached over 295,000 individuals with essential health, nutrition, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services. This included over 85,000 people who received comprehensive treatment for both moderate and severe acute malnutrition.

Your support means their world

Programs like Enhancing Emergency Health & Nutrition Response in Somalia are made possible by Concern’s partners as well as our community of changemakers, whose tax-deductible gifts help us to reach over 27 million people each year with life-changing and lifesaving work. 

To learn more about how your organization can get involved in Concern’s work to make a lasting impact, please contact Katie Waller, Director of Strategic Partnerships, at [email protected].

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