Doctors Without Borders (MSF)_Somalia fuel crisis
Somalia

Amid overwhelming fuel price rises, Somalis struggle to reach healthcare

Press Release27 March 2026

27 March 2026 - Fuel prices across Somalia have surged sharply in the wake of the escalation of conflict in the Middle East, driving up transport and food costs, and making it more expensive, longer, or challenging for people to seek lifesaving healthcare. In a country already hit by drought and multiple health challenges, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warns these rising costs could have a devastating impact on access to basic healthcare for millions of people and urges non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the international community to step up their response in the country.

Fuel is also becoming scarce, or unavailable, in some areas, making it harder for patients to reach hospitals and for hospitals to keep running. For example, MSF has spent 20 per cent more on fuel – needed to keep hospital services functioning – so far in March, compared to February.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF)_Somalia fuel crisis
Halima Omar arrived at Mudug Regional Hospital carrying her 45-day-old son, Muscab, after a 12-hour journey from Mayla, a rural area in the Nugal region. The journey cost her US$75, money that took time to gather.
Mohamed Abdirahman/MSF

MSF facilities in Baidoa and Mudug are among the few functional providers of free healthcare. Our teams are seeing children arrive in critical condition after journeys of hundreds of kilometres, as patients are often travelling long distances to seek care. With fuel prices soaring, these journeys are becoming unaffordable for many families, and transport costs are already a growing barrier to reaching hospitals.

"We delayed coming because we could not afford the transport,” said Halima Omar, 33, a patient at MSF's Mudug Regional Hospital. She travelled 12 hours with her 45-day-old son Muscab to get to the hospital.

"It has become much more expensive than before, and many people are now forced to walk long distances just to reach healthcare."

Doctors Without Borders (MSF)_Somalia fuel crisis
In Baidoa, MSF has noted a 25 % rise in the local price of fuel, from US$ 1.20 to $ 1.50 per litre. Water trucking costs have risen 40 % within the city, from $50 to $70 US trip. In Mudug, fuel has increased by 33 %, from $0.75 to $1.00 per litre, and local transport costs have risen by 50 %. Electricity price increases are expected in both locations as bills catch up with the market. For the communities our teams serve, and for the smaller facilities and local health workers with no institutional budget to absorb the shock, the impact is expected to be far worse—particularly as rising fuel prices push up the cost of transporting medical supplies and other essential items, making it more expensive to deliver care.
Mohamed Abdirahman/MSF
Fuel is becoming scarce and unaffordable, and the people who pay the price are our patients: mothers who cannot reach the maternity ward, children who never make it to the feeding centre Dr. Elshafie Mohammed, MSF Country Representative in Somalia.

“Fuel is becoming scarce and unaffordable, and the people who pay the price are our patients; mothers who cannot reach the maternity ward, children who never make it to the feeding centre,” says Dr Elshafie Mohammed, MSF Country Representative in Somalia.

The disruption goes beyond fuel. Somalia imports almost all of its critical medical and humanitarian supplies, and many organisations' regional warehouses are located in the Middle East. Sustained disruption to shipping and air corridors could delay the supply of life-saving medicines, food to treat malnutrition, and equipment by months.

Somalia was already in dire condition before fuel prices reached their highest level in years. More than 6.5 million people, nearly one in three Somalis, face acute food insecurity. Over 1.84 million children under five are at risk of acute malnutrition.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF)_Somalia fuel crisis
Dr. Elshafie Mohammed, MSF Country Representative in Somalia
Hareth Mohammed/MSF

In 2025, MSF teams in Baidoa recorded a 42 per cent surge in admissions for severe acute malnutrition compared to 2024; in Mudug, admissions rose nearly 60 per cent in the same period.

Somalia imports roughly 90 per cent of its food, and prices for staples were already rising before the latest crisis. With global shipping disruptions pushing costs higher, families are also struggling to afford both food and the transport needed to reach healthcare.

The fuel shock compounds a health system already on the verge of collapse. Since early 2025, more than 200 health and nutrition facilities have closed across Somalia due to a sharp cut in humanitarian funding.

“Somalia's communities cannot afford for the humanitarian response to slow down at this moment,” says Dr Mohammed. “Every organisation working here must step up, and the international community must ensure that the resources are in place to keep that response running.”

Doctors Without Borders (MSF)_Somalia fuel crisis
A man refuels a tuk-tuk at a fuel station in Galkayo, Mudug region. Three-wheeled vehicles are a common form of transport used by residents to reach health facilities in the area. Rising fuel costs have affected transport access for patients in parts of central Somalia.
Mohamed Abdirahman/MSF
Without collective action now, people will lose access to the healthcare they desperately need and have nowhere else to turn to. Dr. Elshafie Mohammed, MSF Country Representative in Somalia

“Without collective action now, people will lose access to the healthcare they desperately need and have nowhere else to turn to," he concludes.

In Baidoa and Mudug, MSF supports hospitals, runs mobile clinics, and is conducting a drought emergency response. In January and February 2026, MSF-supported facilities and mobile teams provided 42,765 outpatient consultations for children and adults, including 13,379 consultations for children under five years old. Over the same period, MSF outreach teams have screened 17,133 patients for malnutrition, admitting 4,564 severely malnourished children to outpatient and inpatient therapeutic feeding centres. In addition, our teams have been responding to the current drought in the country, where we have delivered over 32 million litres of safe drinking water, rehabilitated two boreholes, and distributed 1,050 hygiene kits and jerry cans for water to displaced families.