At least 8.3 million people in Somalia are on the brink of “catastrophic famine” brought on by years of drought, as aid agencies and the Somali government have failed to secure sufficient funding to avert the crisis, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) reports.

In 2022—for the fifth consecutive year—the rainy season in the semi-arid region of East Africa failed, and current predictions expect a similar outcome this spring. In the past year, at least 1.7 million people in Somalia have been displaced by drought and armed conflict. While humanitarian assistance has helped delay an official famine declaration, the growing crisis and funding shortage are causing extreme food insecurity made worse by poor sanitation and water scarcity.

The IRC reports that it raised $15 million for its efforts in Somalia focused on water access, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), economic recovery and development (ERD), women’s protection and empowerment—providing assistance to 500,000 people as of December 2022. The IRC cautioned, however, that a failure to act “will push communities already on the brink of famine over the top,” calling for a global response through the United Nations High-Level Task Force on Preventing Famine to prevent severe malnutrition, enable access to clean drinking water, and provide vaccinations to prevent measles, cholera, and polio—deadly diseases to which malnourished children are particularly vulnerable.

“The current lack of an official famine declaration should not send the message that all is well in Somalia—we are already seeing people die every day from extreme hunger, malnutrition, and preventable diseases,” said IRC regional emergency director for East Africa Shashwat Saraf. “Under these conditions, households will not recover from livestock losses and further reduction is expected, crop harvest will be limited, and an increased disease outbreak is likely to occur. We urge international leaders and donors to learn from experiences of the 2011 famine where over 250,000 people died, half who died before the official famine was declared.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Jo Raphael)