Last year, the East African country averted famine with the help of international donors but long-term solutions for drought, conflict and displacement are still needed, the UN office in Somalia said launching the 2018 humanitarian response plan.

Humanitarian coordinator for Somalia Peter de Clercq said lasting solutions to eliminate famine completely was still necessary.  

He said: “If we do not continue to save lives and in parallel build resilience, then we have only delayed a famine, not prevented one.”

The response plan prioritises immediate relief operations in places with people living in “crisis and emergency situations”, the UN said.

In August 2017, the UK government pledged to improve the effectiveness of its aid in Somalia.

Somalia has been under internal conflict since the fall of dictator Siad Barre in 1991, with Puntland in the north and Somaliland in the north-west having broken away into unrecognised self-declared states.