Somalia: Dengue Outbreak DREF Response – DREF Final Report (MDRSO026)

Please refer to the attached file. Description of the Event Date when the trigger was met 24-02-2026 What happened, where and when? Somalia faced a continuing and increasingly complex public-health emergency in 2026, with dengue fever spreading alongside drought, food insecurity, displacement, conflict, and other disease outbreaks. WHO had flagged limited vector-control capacity, weak health systems, poor sanitation, overcrowded settlements, and inadequate healthcare access as key factors driving delayed detection and further transmission. On 24 February 2026, the Somaliland Ministry of Health Development officially confirmed and declared the escalating dengue fever outbreak affecting multiple regions of the country. In Somaliland specifically, the outbreak had produced a substantial burden: per the Ministry of Health Development’s Epidemiological Week 31 summary, 10, 702 cumulative dengue cases had been reported from Week 1 through Week 31 of 2026, including 201 cases during 27 July–2 August, with one dengue-associated death recorded in that period. Togdheer carried the largest share (5, 461 cases, 51. 0%), followed by Maroodi-Jeex (2, 144, 20. 0%) and Sahil (1, 686, 15. 7%) together accounting for roughly 86. 7% of all reported cases. Geographically, the outbreak touched all six regions of Somaliland, concentrated most heavily in Togdheer, Maroodi-Jeex, and Sahil, with urban hotspots in Burao, Hargeisa, Berbera, and Sheikh. During Week 31 alone, Burao accounted for 55 of Togdheer’s 69 cases, Hargeisa for 36 of Maroodi-Jeex’s 69 cases, and Sheikh and Berbera reported 19 and 11 cases respectively within Sahil. WHO noted that dengue had also appeared in districts of Puntland, meaning the risk extended beyond Somaliland and called for broader surveillance across Somalia as a whole. The situation remained active as of the latest available data Epidemiological Week 31 (27 July–2 August 2026), published 10 August 2026 with 201 new cases in that single week signaling ongoing transmission. This outbreak sat within a much larger humanitarian health crisis. WHO estimated that 5 million people would need health assistance in Somalia in 2026, as conflict, drought, displacement, recurring outbreaks, and severe funding shortfalls strained the health system. Food insecurity compounded the picture: 6. 5 million people had faced high levels of acute food insecurity in February–March 2026, over 2 million of them in Emergency conditions, and about 1. 84 million children aged 6–59 months were projected to be acutely malnourished. By August 2026, UNICEF reported that 205 health and nutrition facilities had already closed due to major funding cuts, further shrinking access to care. These overlapping crises fed into each other in ways that worsened dengue risk. Drought-driven water storage in household containers created breeding grounds for Aedes mosquitoes, while displacement and overcrowding increased exposure and hampered prevention efforts. Meanwhile, weak surveillance, limited diagnostics, insecurity, and reduced health-facility coverage slowed detection and treatment WHO specifically cited limited vector surveillance and control capacity, poor sanitation, weak health-seeking behavior, and limited capacity to manage complicated cases as key risk factors. The collaboration between the Somali Red Crescent Society and the Ministry of Health Development strengthened dengue prevention and response efforts. Through IFRC-DREF support, the National Society provided resources, technical expertise, and community outreach, supporting health education, FM radio campaigns, door-to-door activities, mosquito breeding-site eradication, guideline and protocol revision, frontline health-worker training, deployment of RDTs, and Rapid Response Teams. These efforts expanded coverage, improved response capacity, and increased community awareness of dengue prevention measures.

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