United Nations, May 16 : UN relief agencies have called for an urgent scale-up of life-saving assistance to stave off a rapidly intensifying, critical food insecurity emergency in Somalia.

The Food and Agriculture Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN Children's Fund and the World Food Programme issued the plea, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on Friday (local time).

Haq said that, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report, critical levels of food insecurity in Somalia affect 6 million people, almost a third of the population, including 1.9 million children, 493,000 of whom face severe malnutrition.

The spokesperson said multiple shocks are driving the worsening crisis, including severe drought, insecurity, extremely limited humanitarian assistance and the ripple effects of conflict in the Middle East, reports Xinhua news agency.

"This is also the first time since 2022 that Somalia is at risk of famine -- in Burhakaba district, in Southwest State," he said. "In 2022, famine was averted through massively scaled-up and sustained humanitarian interventions in the aftermath of the longest drought on record."

Haq said that humanitarian assistance in the most-at-risk areas is being scaled up, but with severely constrained resources. Coverage remains limited nationwide, with nearly 90 per cent of people receiving little or no support.

According to OCHA, George Conway, UN humanitarian coordinator in Somalia, said there is a narrow but critical window of opportunity in the coming weeks to prevent famine through rapid and expanded humanitarian action.

According to a report released on Thursday, an estimated 6 million people in Somalia are currently facing high levels of acute food insecurity through June.

The updated Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report details a worsening emergency driven by recurring drought, conflict, displacement, rising costs, and shrinking international aid. This marks an increase of more than half a million people compared to initial projections.

The IPC warned that in the Burhakaba district of the Bay region, acute malnutrition has reached extremely critical levels, with famine risks emerging under a plausible worst-case scenario unless assistance is urgently scaled up.

The report also noted that the crisis is being intensified by global economic shocks linked to instability in and around the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East crisis. Disrupted supply routes have made humanitarian operations increasingly difficult.

According to the analysis, nearly 1.88 million children are now expected to require treatment for acute malnutrition in 2026, 42,000 more than previously projected. Without urgent treatment, severely malnourished children face a significantly higher risk of mortality.

/IANS