About 200,000 children under the age of five could die from severe malnutrition in Somalia by the end of the year, unless the United Nations receives emergency funds to stave off mass hunger, UN officials have said.

Only $15m has been received against the appeal by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to donor states for $150m to provide vital health services to more than three million women and children in the Horn of Africa nation this year, the agency said on Tuesday.