Somalia is grappling with a sharp rise in diphtheria cases and deaths this year, driven by vaccine shortages and cuts to foreign aid, Somali officials said.
More than 1,600 cases, including 87 deaths, have been recorded so far in 2025, nearly double the total cases of 838 and 56 deaths reported in 2024, according to Hussein Abdukar Muhidin, general director of Somalia’s National Institute of Health.
Diphtheria, a bacterial disease that causes breathing problems, fever, and swollen glands, primarily affects children and is preventable through vaccination.
Despite improvements in childhood immunisation over the past decade, hundreds of thousands of Somali children remain unvaccinated. Deka Mohamed Ali, who fled fighting in central Somalia three months ago, recounted how all four of her unvaccinated children contracted diphtheria, with one dying and two currently undergoing treatment in Mogadishu.
Health Minister Ali Haji Adam said vaccine shortages, compounded by cuts in U.S. aid, have hindered response efforts. “Many health centres closed. Mobile vaccination teams that took vaccines to remote areas lost funding and now do not work,” he said. U.S. aid to Somalia dropped from $765 million in the previous fiscal year to $149 million this year.
Aid groups warn that closures of hundreds of health clinics have contributed to rising cases of diphtheria, measles, cholera, and severe respiratory infections. In addition, Somalia’s own health budget fell from 8.5% of total spending in 2023 to 4.8% in 2024, drawing criticism from human rights groups.
The Somali government has announced plans for a vaccination drive but has not provided a timeline, raising concerns over containing the outbreak.
Written By Rodney Mbua
