# World Health Organization (WHO) in Somalia: what it does

> What WHO does in Somalia: health system support, vaccines and outbreaks, who leads it, its funding 2024 to 2026, and what it reports doing in 2026.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/institutions/who-somalia/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## What it does

WHO in Somalia is part of WHO's Eastern Mediterranean region office. Its work follows a Country Cooperation Strategy agreed with Somalia for 2021 to 2025 ([WHO EMRO](https://www.emro.who.int/countries/som/index.html)). It reports work on essential health services and health security, polio eradication and immunisation, emergency and critical care, and outbreak response ([WHO EMRO](https://www.emro.who.int/somalia/)).

## Who leads it

WHO says Dr Humphrey Karamagi took up his duties as WHO Representative in Somalia on 23 August 2026, and that he has more than 25 years of experience in health systems and public health in fragile settings ([WHO EMRO](https://www.emro.who.int/somalia/)). WHO reports that his first mission to a federal member state was to [Puntland](/en/states/puntland/), focused on its health priorities ([WHO EMRO](https://www.emro.who.int/somalia/)).

## The money

OCHA's Financial Tracking Service (FTS) records humanitarian funding that donors and agencies report to it. It is not the whole budget of an organisation, and recent years are still being filled in. FTS lists these amounts received by WHO for work in Somalia ([OCHA FTS](https://fts.unocha.org/countries/206/summary/2025)):

| Year | Humanitarian funding recorded (US$) |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 4.2 million |
| 2025 | 4.9 million |
| 2026, to November | 3.1 million |

The same figures for 212 organisations are on [this site's aid funding list](/en/institutions/aid-organisations-funding-2024-2026/).

## What it reports

On its Somalia pages in 2026, WHO reports:

- that Somalia and health partners agreed priorities to strengthen essential health services and health security;
- that Somalia's Prime Minister pledged stronger oversight and investment in polio eradication and immunisation;
- that WHO and Puntland's Ministry of Health stepped up the emergency response when floods affected 90,000 people in [Galkacyo](/en/regions/mudug/) ([WHO EMRO](https://www.emro.who.int/somalia/)).

OCHA reports a rise in vaccine-preventable diseases and cholera linked to drought and displacement, and a high number of "zero-dose" children who have had no vaccines ([OCHA Somalia](https://www.unocha.org/somalia)).

## How the work is shared

WHO works with the federal [Ministry of Health](/en/institutions/ministry-of-health/) and with state health ministries, including Puntland's and [Somaliland](/en/states/somaliland-1991-to-2026/)'s. Health figures it publishes are on [this site's health numbers page](/en/data/health-numbers-1990-2025/).

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