IPC Warns Thousands of Displaced Somalis in Baidoa Could Face Famine by Year-End

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) — a UN-agency-backed global hunger monitor — warned in a report published September 23, 2026 that roughly 26,000 internally displaced people in Baidoa, Bay region (about 5% of the city's displaced population), face a real risk of famine-level starvation and a collapse in livelihoods between October and December if anticipated El Nino-driven flooding proves worse than expected and humanitarian funding remains insufficient. The report projected 5.4 million Somalis — about 26% of the analyzed population — will face IPC Phase 3 Crisis-level food insecurity or worse by the fourth quarter of 2026, including 1.5 million in Emergency-level hunger, with an estimated 70,400 people a month (roughly 1.3% of those in need) currently reached by food assistance. Separately, 1.92 million children aged six months to five years will require treatment for acute malnutrition by June 2027, including 433,000 with severe acute malnutrition. Baidoa, one of Somalia's largest cities, hosts hundreds of thousands of people displaced by conflict and drought. Somalia last experienced famine in 2011, when roughly 250,000 people died, and narrowly avoided famine again in 2017 and 2022.