According to the estimation of the United Nations, there are currently about 2 million Somalis under the threat of hunger caused by drought. To make matters worse, since the fall of the Siad regime in 1991, Somalia has been in a state of anarchy where warlords are armed and the country is torn apart. The harsh security environment, scarred infrastructure and lack of the most basic service means have made international rescuers and volunteers encounter many obstacles in their rescue activities in Somalia. Somalia has the longest coastline in Africa, but due to the long-term lack of strong central government jurisdiction, pirates are rampant along the coast of Somalia. According to statistics, from March 25 to January 26, there were 34 pirate attacks on merchant ships along the coast of Somalia, including the rescue freighter of the World Food Programme. In view of the increasingly severe maritime situation, the United Nations has to transport some aid materials by land, and transport food and other materials to southern Somalia through neighboring Kenya, which greatly increases the transportation cost.

In the past 15 years, continuous civil wars and conflicts have caused great damage to the people's livelihood in Somalia. At present, the neonatal, child and maternal mortality rates in Somalia are almost the highest in the world, while the enrollment rate of children is almost the lowest in the world, and the average life expectancy is only 48 years. The double torment of man-made and natural disasters has made this small East African country full of sores and people miserable. The United Nations and relevant humanitarian relief agencies have urged the newly formed Somali transitional government to take all necessary measures to closely cooperate with international relief agencies to prevent the disaster from getting worse.