Somalia is at “tipping point” and a famine could be declared in a matter of weeks, Save the Children has warned.

An intensifying food crisis in the Horn of Africa is on track to become “far worse” than the 2011 famine that claimed 260,000 lives, with 12 million people in the area likely to be affected and 50,000 children in Somalia alone facing death.

But the region is in danger of being forgotten as donors are pulled in too many different directions, a spokeswoman for the charity told The Independent.

The warning comes after the UN declared an official famine in parts of South Sudan on Monday, and follows a report earlier this month suggesting that four African countries – South Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen and Somalia – could be heading towards severe food insecurity later this year.

But Save the Children has suggested the situation in the Horn of Africa is even worse than earlier reports indicated, and fear crises elsewhere mean the developing catastrophe could be overlooked until it is too late.

“What we’re seeing on the ground suggests we’re at a tipping point – a significant worsening of malnutrition cases tells us a famine isn't far off,” said Hassan Saadi Noor, Save the Children’s country director in Somalia.

Aid organisations have a “tiny window” in which to intervene "to divert a really disastrous humanitarian crisis”, Tom Arup, a member of staff deployed to the country told The Independent.

A spokeswoman for Save the Children said the Horn of Africa region is one of only two places worldwide currently identified as a “category one emergency” by the organisation – the other being war-torn Syria – due to the sheer number of lives in danger there.

Workers at Save the Children-supported health clinics and hospitals in Puntland – one of the areas hardest hit by drought in Somalia – have reported a significant increase in severe malnutrition cases among children coming through their doors.

An estimated 363,000 children are already suffering from malnutrition in Somalia, 71,000 of them severe cases. The Somalia Nutrition Cluster is predicting this number could rise to 944,000 cases in 2017, 185,000 of them severe, unless urgent aid is provided to the severely drought-stricken country. The United Nations has warned that more than 50,000 children are now facing death.

The country is currently in the midst of its worst drought since 1950, with parts of the Somalia not having seen rain for two years. Four successive crops have failed, making the scale of the looming crisis almost unprecedented.

“This drought is exceptional in that it is affecting all parts of the country,” Mr Arup said. “In 2011 in Somalia you had a drought that led to a famine that ended up killing over a quarter of a million people. It hit a couple of areas of the country really badly, but this time the entire country is in drought conditions. People in all parts of the country are facing some level of food insecurity”.

He added that some places are worse affected than others, but “there’s no respite, there are no parts of Somalia you can move to that aren’t affected”.

If this year's rains do not arrive in a couple of months, he said, it will be “truly catastrophic” for the majority of the population, who rely on the land to survive.

In the Puntland region, people are feeding their livestock cardboard in a bid to keep them alive (Save the Children)

He added that as the internal capacity of the Somali government is “very, very limited”, it is up to humanitarian organisations to step in before it is too late.

“There’s a very dangerous situation here at the moment. We really are at a tipping point, in many regions in Somalia the situation is deteriorating really quickly. All the indicators that point towards a famine are intensifying very quickly,” he said.

Reports from the hardest-hit areas of the country suggest some people are now going days without food and are resorting to feeding livestock with cardboard in a desperate attempt to keep their remaining animals alive.

In the Puntland village of Yaka, Iftin Yusuf Mohamed, a nurse working at the local maternal and child health clinic, told Save the Children the situation was getting worse every day.

She added that a massive influx of people into the region looking for greener pasture had led to high levels of malnutrition and hunger, and the assistance available was not enough to keep up with the need.

“There is a real shortage of food, medication and of water supplies, and if we don’t get it now then it could be a human tragedy with high mortality rates,” she said.

Mohamed’s child Abdifatax is being treated for severe malnutrition at a specialist clinic (Save the Children)

In the regional capital of Garowe, Save the Children interviewed Mohamed, a man who had taken his child, Abdifatax, to a specialist clinic at the local hospital where he was treated for severe malnutrition. His condition was so severe that he is now being treated through a feeding tube.

“My son was sick for 20 days. This illness worried me a lot. After about two weeks of being ill, my son looked severely malnourished, he was vomiting and had diarrhoea,” said Mohamed.

“But he has received a lot of nourishing treatment these past three days, thank God.”

Mohamed and his relatives travel between the countryside and Garowe to tend to livestock, but he said most of the animals have now died.

“In normal times, people use livestock to nourish themselves but now the opposite is happening, where cardboard and beans are sent from the city to feed the animals in the countryside.”

Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation Show all 11 1 /11 Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation Nadifo Yusuf, aged 25, with her five-month-old child at the New Shabelle Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp in Bosaso, Somalia. Says photographer Ed Ou: 'She fled on the back of a truck with her family after her husband was killed in the south of Somalia. She paid $30 for a truck ride, but was robbed by bandits in the night, which happens to a lot of people - so she'd had to beg for food along the way.' Ed Ou Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation A mother collects food from Save the Children. 'People had to queue for two hours to get food and it was very hot. They get given a bottle of cooking oil, then maybe 15 or 20 packets of a very high-calorie peanut paste specifically designed for children - it's got 500 calories per pack. They also get high-nutrient flour which they then cook up into bread.' Ed Ou Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation Severely malnourished 11-month-old, Naimia Isaq Abdi, at a Stabilisation Centre in Bosaso. She weighs in at 5.5kg. 'They had to weigh people to see if they qualified, if they were eligible, as well as tracking whether they were growing - they would weigh the children in these buckets and then measure their arms.' Ed Ou Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation Habibo Ali Mursal, aged 30, lies with her malnourished one-year-old baby, Sharifo Malin Mohamed, who weighs 5kg. 'Stabilisation centres are for more extreme cases, for people who are so malnourished they can't eat properly. The nurses pass out water and food but there are some children who have to take food in through the nose, perhaps if they're not conscious.' Ed Ou Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation 'The food was supplied by the World Food Programme. Everyone had an identification card which was filled in and basically tracked how big their child was. It's pretty orderly - maybe because it's women and children. They knew they were about to get their food, it wasn't a desperate grab.' Ed Ou Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation 'There were 6,000 people just at the New Shabelle camp. On my last day, there was a food hand-out and it seemed like they gave almost all of it out - they got through 50 boxes of peanut paste. Looking at the scope of the food hand-outs, you realised demand outweighed supply.' Ed Ou Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation A Somali woman stands over the only goat she has left in her pen inKarkaar, Somalia. 'She had over 60 goats, but they all died in the recent drought.' Ed Ou Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation Yusuf carries water to her tent. 'Like any IDP camp they are in a pretty desperate situation. A lot of these camps have existed for some time but recently there's been a big influx. The toilet is an open field right by the water supply.' Ed Ou Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation The New Shabelle camp. 'Most of the shacks are made out of sticks - sticks are constructed into domes and then laced with cardboard and fabric, as much as they can.' Ed Ou Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation A new arrival builds a makeshift shelter. 'During the time we were there, we met new arrivals. There were maybe about 30 coming each day, but there are many different camps - there are 31 camps just around Bosaso - so it's hard to tell how many people are arriving.' Ed Ou Surviving Somalia: Photographer Ed Ou visits a food project as famine strikes in the East African nation Aniso Osman Hussein, aged 13, with her malnourished brother, Diini Osman Hussein, aged three and weighing 10.5kg, at the stabilisation centre. 'People are getting the amount of food they need - it's just there's a lot of people there now that need it. In order for everybody to get enough food, more needs to get there.' Ed Ou

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is calling on the international community to provide £692.5m in emergency funds to help Somalia.

Currently, Mr Arup said, Save the Children is short of funding and is unable to assist everyone in the country.

“You ask if we’re meeting the need, the short answer is no,” Mr Arup said. “The money is coming in far too slowly for us to meet the need at this point”.

Gareth Owen, Save the Children’s Humanitarian Director, said: “Aid agencies’ resources are hugely stretched currently as we respond to food crises around the world.