Hunger is on the rise, affecting more people than ever before. data shows that each 1% reduction in WFP's assistance could push an additional 400,000 people closer to famine.
WFP
Food-insecurity levels were already alarmingly high, with one third of people in Palestine – 1.8 million – experiencing food insecurity. In the immediate aftermath of the spike in conflict, the UN World Food Programme's emergency operation aims to provide a critical food lifeline to over 800,000 people.
A funding crunch has sharply curtailed ’s response to two top hunger crises: Somalia and Haiti. WFP spoke with Hibo Ahmed, who has survived on WFP cash assistance programmes at a dusty camp for internally displaced people, and Herman Petitfrere who, after fleeing gang violence in the neighborhood where he lived, in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, now lives in a makeshift shelter built from wood and iron sheeting, located in a camp, where hundreds of other people have also taken refuge. Both are surviving day-to-day in homelands roiled by violence and climate change — which together help to drive some of the world’s highest hunger rates.
The Afghan community is being pushed to the brink as the is forced to cut food assistance driving people into a freefall where they do not know where their next meal is coming from. Children are earning 50 Afghan Afghanis (US$0.60) a day from garbage and plastic collection. In a country reeling from protracted conflict, a decimated economy, and a climate crisis that is worsening by the day, 15 million people are going to bed hungry every night. WFP to pull Afghans back from the brink.
There are 734 million people going hungry around the world, 122 million more than in 2019, according to (SOFI). Launched by UN agencies including the FAO and , the report estimates 29.6 percent of the world’s population, around 2.4 billion people, had restricted access to food last year. This includes around 900 million people facing severe food insecurity amid worsening and intersecting crises. WFP needs US$25.1 billion to reach 171.5 million people around the world this year.
The meals offered by Shree Kakani Ganesh Primary School, in Nepal are part of a broader effort to give young school children a healthy start. With more than one-fourth of Nepal’s children under 5 suffering from malnutrition, the school meals are a game changer. Under ’s Home-Grown School Feeding initiative, children are fed with different nutritious hot meals daily resulting in fewer children missing school. Food is sourced from local smallholder farmers which in turn has seen an increase in the local communities income and strengthened economy while improving family dynamics in Nepal.
Climate extremes are a key driver of food insecurity. are providing solutions to help communities predict and prepare for climate disasters for a sustainable future.
Haiti’s hunger crisis is unseen, unheard, and unaddressed leaving more than 4.9 million Haitians struggling to eat day-to-day. Pervasive insecurity and extreme weather conditions are inhibiting access to the rich food productive areas in the region. is optimistic that despite these challenges, empowering the local community will build long-term capacities in bridging the food crisis. There needs to be a multi-sector response and investments in the local grassroot organizations to stabilize in Haiti.
In the words of rice farmer Deur Sok, the difference the 2.3km canal built in 2022 as part of a -backed project is making in Sambour, a commune in central Cambodia’s Kampong Thom province is tremendous. Changing weather patterns in the past few years have caused an unpredictable succession of drought and flooding, which spelled disaster for farmers relying on so-called wet season – or rainfed – rice cultivation. Farmers in the region had seen their plants wilt when there was not enough water – or washed away when there was too much. The canal has broken their dependence on erratic weather events and as a result, their yields have more than doubled.
Nearly two weeks after Cyclone Mocha, a grim certainty looms as the coastal areas of and enters monsoon season. The cyclone has sent food prices soaring and wiped-out people’s slender food stocks. But now Mocha’s devastation has only deepened hunger already sharpened by the country’s conflict and political and economic crises. has distributed hot meals and emergency food assistance to thousands of people in the immediate aftermath of the storm. A funding shortfall is threatening WFP's response in both countries.
For the women and girls who are living amid the Horn of Africa crisis, there are increased risks. Cases of child and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, rape, and other forms of violence have all risen sharply. provides medical personnel and supports a range of mobile services and initiatives to reach people, such as this motorcycle ambulance, driven by Mark, who transports women to deliver safely. With increased support from the international community, UNFPA can do more for women to protect them from violence and provide access to medical interventions.
After three years of drought, more than 23 million people across parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia face severe hunger. When the region’s long-awaited rains arrived in March, they should have brought some relief. But instead, flash flooding inundated homes and farmland, washed away livestock, and closed schools and health facilities. Mortality and malnutrition rates remain a serious cause for concern. and partners launched a rapid scale up of life-saving assistance in drought-hit Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, which helped to keep famine at bay in Somalia.
All 7 countries, where famine-like conditions are expected in 2023, are experiencing high levels of armed violence. 24 May marks the fifth anniversary of the UN Security Council adopting , acknowledging the link between conflict and hunger. This document recognizes the need to establish accountability for those who exploit starvation for their own end. Zero hunger cannot be achieved without stability – this is why .
When the fighters came to her Sudanese village, 50-year-old Aicha Madar fled with her daughter Fatima, joining thousands streaming across the border into eastern Chad. Tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees have escaped the recent uptick of violence in their homeland – numbers that could swell to 270,000 or more. Most are heading to South Sudan and to Chad, countries already grappling with some of the world’s highest hunger levels. and other humanitarians fear a perfect storm, as refugee influx from Sudan’s unrest is compounded by upcoming rains, lean season and a funding crunch.
The thermometer is already hovering near 40°C (104°F) before noon in a remote village in Niger’s southwestern Tillaberi region. Despite these high temperatures, -supported community gardening initiative, has transformed the once-barren earth with promising payoffs for the farmers. In regions severely affected by the food crisis, a striking 80 percent of villages benefitting from WFP resilience activities did not require humanitarian assistance last year. These initiatives include land rehabilitation where more than 233,000 hectares have been rehabilitated since the initiative’s launch in 2014.