‘When you don’t have money, you go where help exists’, says Taliso Abdukar Mahdi, a 50-year-old grandmother caring for her 3 grandchildren.
She sits on a thin foam mattress at the Hodan Stabilization Center, in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, holding her grandchildren close. Offering a tired smile, she recalls an old Somali saying:
’It’s not your children who give you a hard time, it’s your grandchildren’, recalls Taliso.
Life-saving care at Hodan Stabilization Center
The CaafimaadPlus Consortium is the largest health and nutrition consortium in Somalia. Led by Action Against Hunger, it is a group of 5 international and 4 local humanitarian organisations, working together to deliver life-saving assistance to communities affected by drought and conflict in Somalia’s hardest-to-reach areas. The consortium agencies combine their expertise and resources to provide integrated healthcare and nutrition assistance, water and sanitation services, as well as protection to the most vulnerable communities in Somalia.
Taliso arrived from Qoryoley after several sleepless nights. 5-year-old Muse was burning with fever, vomiting and suffering from diarrhea. 7-month-old Sahmsa and 3-year-old Khalid were also sick, weak and malnourished.
Their mother had made the journey before, bringing older siblings for treatment during a previous drought-induced hunger crisis. When her children’s condition worsened, she urged her mother to do the same.
They came to a place Somalis have long called “Casha Xamari”, where porridge was once served to hungry children during the famine years. Today, that same site is the Hodan Stabilization Center, run by Action Against Hunger (Action contre la faim – ACF) through the CaafimaadPlus Consortium and supported by the European Union.
Here, children suffering from severe malnutrition and other illnesses receive round-the-clock treatment, therapeutic foods, and medical care – all free of charge.
Inside the ward, nurses move gently between beds, checking temperatures and ensuring each child completes their feeding schedule. The air smells faintly of milk and antiseptic. For families who once had nowhere to turn, the center offers both care and calm.
‘The people here are kind’ says Taliso. This place treats you well when your child is not well.’
Action Against Hunger’s approach goes beyond medicine. Staff are trained and supported to provide consistent, compassionate care. Families receive water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) support, and the most vulnerable households are linked to emergency cash after nutrition programmes.
This mix of services doesn’t just save lives; it helps families stay healthy after they leave.
Taliso recounts that her family once lived comfortably near the town of Qoryooley in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region. Her son worked in a restaurant in Mogadishu before losing his job and returning to farm labour. The last harvest produced just 5 sacks of maize and beans – barely enough to eat, let alone pay for health care.
‘Health is expensive’, Taliso says quietly. ‘If you have health, other problems can be handled. When you don’t have money, you carry your children to the only place you know you can get help.’
In Farhano, families depend on the river for farming. When the water runs high, men dig, plant and harvest, and food becomes available. But when it drops, income dries up – and hunger returns. This season, the river has turned orange and turbid with fresh rains, a sign of silt and nutrient-rich water – a hopeful signal that food might soon be plentiful again. Yet for children already weakened by malnutrition, time cannot wait for harvests.
At Hodan, caregivers (grandmothers like Taliso) receive 3 meals a day so they can stay strong for their children. Staff wake children for nighttime feeds, give oral rehydration salts and monitor every small improvement.
A growing crisis
Across Somalia, malnutrition is rising again. At least 1.85 million children below 5 years of age are expected to be malnourished by June 2026. This includes approximately 421,000 children likely to suffer severe acute malnutrition. Most of these children are concentrated in southern Somalia. Compared to the same season last year, the current estimates represent a 12% increase in GAM (acute malnutrition) and a 5% increase in SAM (severe and acute malnutrition).
A fragile but real chance
Behind these numbers are children like Muse – millions of small faces behind the percentages.
Funding cuts have forced some outpatient and nutrition sites to close, especially in rural and hard-to-reach regions. This means mothers and grandmothers like Taliso must travel even farther to find help.
Yet in places like Hodan, the work continues. In September 2025 alone, the center admitted 180 severely malnourished children – and it is just one of the dozen such centers run nationwide by EU partner Action Against Hunger through the CaafimaadPlus Consortium. Thousands more are reached through mobile teams, trained community health workers, outpatient programmes and prevention campaigns.
Each child treated represents not only a recovery, but a small victory against hunger’s grip on the country.
For Taliso, the journey was long and hard, but the outcome has made it all worthwhile. Muse’s fever is gone, Sahmsa is feeding well, and Khalid’s laughter now echoes faintly down the corridor.
Sitting beside them, she adjusts a corner of the blanket and smiles.
‘I am grateful for this place’, she says. ‘They meet you halfway so your children can live and grow.’
In Somalia’s hunger crisis, that chance – fragile but real – means everything.
Muse was discharged from the Hodan Stabilization Center and continued treatment at Garasbaley Health Center under closer supervision from local health workers. He looks better, slightly healthier than when he was admitted 10 days earlier, while his 2 siblings remain in the ward for several more days until their condition stabilises.
