Hiiraan Online

Mogadishu (HOL) — Somalia is facing a sharp surge in diphtheria cases, with health officials warning that vaccine shortages, donor funding cuts, and systemic weaknesses have created one of the country’s most dangerous public health crises in years.

The Ministry of Health said more than 1,600 cases and 87 deaths have been reported so far in 2025, nearly double last year’s total. At Mogadishu’s De Martino Public Hospital, the country’s main referral center, doctors documented a 914 percent increase in cases year-over-year, with deaths tripling from 13 in 2024 to 42 in 2025.

While Mogadishu districts, such as Karan, Yaqshiid, and Deyniile, have emerged as hotspots, Puntland’s Mudug, Nugal, and Bari regions have also recorded high mortality rates. In the Iskushuban district, five of 17 patients died, a case fatality rate of nearly 30 percent.

Children account for the overwhelming majority of cases. Deka Mohamed Ali, who fled fighting in central Somalia, said that all four of her children contracted diphtheria after arriving in Mogadishu. Her eight-year-old son died, and two toddlers remain hospitalized. “My children got sick and I just stayed at home because I did not know it was diphtheria,” she told Reuters.

Health Minister Ali Haji Adam acknowledged that Somalia has struggled to procure vaccines amid a global shortage. The problem has been compounded by donor cuts: U.S. foreign assistance to Somalia fell to $149 million this year, down from $765 million in 2024. Mobile vaccination teams, which once reached remote villages, have been forced to shut down.

Doctors Without Borders warned that basic supplies, including the diphtheria antitoxin, have already been exhausted in some hospitals. “Low vaccination coverage, vaccine hesitancy, and poor living conditions are driving the spread,” said MSF’s medical coordinator Frida Athanassiadis.

Aid agencies say the outbreak underscores long-standing gaps in Somalia’s health system, where only 4.8 percent of the national budget was allocated to health last year. Save the Children noted that since April, cases of measles, diphtheria, cholera, whooping cough, and severe respiratory infections have more than doubled across the country.

Authorities in Puntland have closed schools in outbreak zones, while the Somali Red Crescent has deployed mobile clinics and launched vaccination campaigns targeting nearly half a million people. International agencies, including UNICEF and the World Health Organization, are supporting cold chain logistics and risk communication campaigns.

Public health experts warn that without urgent, coordinated action, Somalia risks an even wider epidemic. “Timely data saves lives,” said Dr. Abdulrazaq Yusuf Ahmed, director of De Martino Hospital. “What we now need is unified leadership and rapid response”.