More than four million people in Somalia face "acute food insecurity", while over 100,000 have been displaced by conflict since June, its disaster authorities said Thursday.
Somalia is grappling with a resurgence of the extremist militant group Al-Shabaab, alongside clashes between regional forces and the federal army.
The Horn of Africa nation is among the most vulnerable to climate change, according to the United Nations, and in the last five years has experienced both the worst drought in four decades and once-in-a-century flooding.
The food crisis has surged 29 percent since earlier this year, driven by prolonged drought, conflict and reduced humanitarian assistance, the Somali Disaster Management Agency (SoDMA) said.
"Somalia faces a severe food security crisis with an estimated 4.4 million people experiencing acute food insecurity," SoDMA said in an X statement.
Around 2.5 million people in northern Somalia face moderate to severe drought across 26 districts, with over 850,000 in the hardest-hit areas.
The agency said roughly 1.7 million under-five-year-olds were acutely malnourished, 466,000 of them in a critical condition.
In recent weeks, clashes in Gedo region -- in Jubaland state, long at odds with the central government -- have displaced 38,000 people internally and forced 10,200 across the Kenyan border.
Health services have been affected by the conflict and cuts to humanitarian aid, with services reduced or suspended in 21 districts across nine regions.
The federal government said it had pledged $700,000 to support the drought-stricken population.
US cuts to foreign aid this year have hit countries such as Somalia, which was already under-funded.
British charity Save the Children warned in May that funding shortfalls would force it to shut more than a quarter of its health and nutrition facilities in Somalia.
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