Somalia: Response to Covid-19 in Complex Humanitarian Setting

This brief study paints a stark picture of Somalia’s challenge with COVID-19 amid a profoundly fragile humanitarian environment, where public services are fractured and governance is limited. The authors reflect on how preventative measures such as social distancing, quarantines, and travel restrictions may have been delayed or poorly enforced, given the limited institutional capacity, distrust of authorities, and the dominance of private and international actors in the health sector. They underscore how, in the absence of strong government-led responses and preventive awareness, the country’s fractured public infrastructure—and the cultural unfamiliarity with disease prevention—heighten the risk posed by the pandemic.