Diphtheria cases surge in Somalia amid vaccine shortages and aid cuts
Somalia is facing a sharp rise in diphtheria cases and deaths this year, driven by vaccine shortages and reductions in U.S. and international aid, health officials said.
More than 1,600 cases and 87 deaths have been reported in 2025, compared with 838 cases and 56 deaths in all of 2024, according to Hussein Abdukar Muhidin, director of Somalia’s National Institute of Health. Diphtheria, a bacterial disease that primarily affects children, causes severe throat swelling, fever, and breathing difficulties but is preventable with vaccination, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
While childhood immunisation rates have improved over the last decade, hundreds of thousands of children remain unvaccinated. After fleeing conflict in central Somalia three months ago, Deka Mohamed Ali’s four children contracted diphtheria. Her 9-year-old daughter recovered, but her 8-year-old son died, and two younger children are receiving treatment in Mogadishu.
Health Minister Ali Haji Adam said global vaccine shortages and cuts in U.S. aid have severely hampered vaccination campaigns. “The U.S. aid cut terribly affected health funding. Many health centres closed, and mobile vaccination teams lost funding,” he said. U.S. foreign aid to Somalia dropped to $149 million for the current fiscal year from $765 million the previous year.
Despite this, a U.S. State Department spokesperson emphasized that America continues to provide lifesaving assistance and called on other countries to increase humanitarian support.
Aid organizations, including Save the Children, reported that closures of hundreds of health clinics this year contributed to a doubling of cases of diphtheria, measles, whooping cough, cholera, and severe respiratory infections since mid-April. Other major donors such as the UK, France, and Germany have also reduced aid budgets.
Somalia’s government, criticized for allocating only 4.8% of its budget to health in 2024, plans to launch a vaccination drive, though no timeline has been announced.
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