Somalia faces 'food crisis' after lifesaving US grants hit their end
By Elissa Miolene // 04 March 2026
Every day, hundreds crowd a nutrition center on the outskirts of Mogadishu. Babies’ cries fill the clinic while mothers hold them to their chests; lines stretch down hallways while doctors pass from one child to the next.
But over the weekend, U.S. funding for this center — one of 13 run by the Minnesota-based aid group Alight — came to an end, leaving care for over 200,000 Somalis hanging by a thread.
“I’m getting calls from these locations to find out what’s next, and what will happen,” said Adan Adar, Alight’s executive director for the Horn of Africa. “And I can’t tell them anything.”
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About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene covers U.S. foreign assistance from Washington, D.C. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for The Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other news outlets across the world. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for aid agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
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