Somalia Humanitarian Emergency
Somalia faces the compounding tolls of conflict, climate shocks and mass displacement. These shocks continue to uproot millions and strain an already fragile health system. Five consecutive failed rainy seasons followed by devastating floods have left large parts of the country in a humanitarian free fall. Only 30 per cent of public health facilities are fully functional and able to provide emergency obstetric care, a reality reflected in one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Roughly 1 in 20 women die during pregnancy, childbirth or its aftermath.
Displacement is driving a surge in protection risks. Gender-based violence rose by more than 60 per cent in drought-affected districts in 2025, child marriage is increasing as families face extreme economic pressures, and more than 7 million people live with psychological distress after years of crisis, with almost no access to mental health support.
UNFPA remains one of the few actors sustaining reproductive health and protection services at scale in Somalia. Mobile clinics and community midwives move with displaced communities, delivering antenatal care, emergency obstetric support and family planning to women who would otherwise have no access. Safe spaces offer survivors of violence a dignified place to seek psychosocial support, medical care and referrals. Supply chains reaching from Mogadishu to remote riverine villages sustain the availability of reproductive health kits, dignity kits and post-rape care even when formal systems collapse.
Increasingly, Somali women themselves lead these interventions, serving as midwives, nurses and social workers who anchor care within their communities. Yet as needs escalate and funding shrinks, essential services are being lost. Since early 2025, UNFPA has been forced to reduce the number of supported health facilities by more than 80 per cent (from 74 to 14), close 44 service delivery points and one-stop centres responding to gender-based violence, and halt support to 15 midwifery schools. Even before these cuts, 6 in 10 Somali women gave birth entirely alone and without skilled care. Without sustained, flexible financing, conditions will deteriorate further. More unsafe deliveries will take place on dirt floors, more survivors of violence will be left without support, and entire communities will lose access to the most basic health and protection services.
