According to the SOFI 2025 report (The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World), around 673 million people – 8.2% of the global population – experienced hunger in 2024. Although this figure shows a slight decline compared to previous years – 15 million fewer people than in 2023 – estimates remain above pre-pandemic levels. The high food inflation of recent years continues to hinder a faster recovery in global food security.
Progress, moreover, is not uniform. While South Asia and Latin America show signs of improvement, hunger continues to rise in Africa and Western Asia. In Africa, the proportion of the population suffering from hunger exceeded 20% in 2024, affecting 307 million people. Western Asia faced a similar situation, with 12.7% of the population – more than 39 million people – affected by hunger. These figures highlight the enormous challenge of achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, Zero Hunger, by 2030.
Projections indicate that by then, 512 million people could be chronically undernourished, almost 60% of them in Africa.
The crisis in the Horn of Africa: drought, floods and malnutrition
The situation is particularly critical in the Horn of Africa, where years of extreme drought have destroyed crops and killed livestock. The return of rainfall in some areas has brought no relief, instead unleashing severe floods due to the parched land’s inability to absorb water. This has further aggravated already fragile health conditions, fuelling the spread of epidemics such as cholera, measles and malaria.
Agriculture and livestock farming – the sole sources of livelihood for millions of families – have been decimated. Wells and waterways have dried up. Families, trapped in a spiral of poverty, are forced to sell the little land they own to buy food, or to abandon their homes in search of water and pastures.
Children are the hardest hit: nearly 7 million are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, with devastating consequences for their growth and survival.
CESVI’s commitment against malnutrition in Somalia
Since 2006, CESVI has been active in Somalia with projects dedicated to tackling child malnutrition and supporting the population.
In 2024, thanks to life-saving treatment with plumpy’nut (a high-calorie food made of peanut paste, powdered milk, vitamins and minerals), we treated over 8,000 children affected by severe acute malnutrition.
In our three health centres in the Mogadishu area, we visited more than 120,000 children, screening them with the MUAC bracelet to measure malnutrition levels. Over 22,000 children under the age of five received vitamins and micronutrients.
Our interventions aim to strengthen the health of the most vulnerable population, ensure access to nutritious food, promote essential hygiene practices to prevent epidemics, and support agriculture and livestock farming – fundamental for families’ self-sufficiency.
The fight against global hunger is still far from achieving the expected results. At CESVI, we continue to operate in the most fragile contexts to assist vulnerable populations, particularly in the Horn of Africa – not only in Somalia, but also in Ethiopia. Here, since 2021, we have been responding to the extreme drought that has devastated the Borena area, decimating livestock and bringing the population to its knees, with projects designed to strengthen community resilience to climate and migratory shocks.
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