The United Nations food agencies warned Wednesday that acute hunger is on track to worsen across 13 global hot spots in the coming months, with conflict, funding shortages, and climate shocks pushing millions of people closer to famine. The Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program said in a new joint report, per the AP, that conditions are expected to deteriorate between June and November, with around 266 million people already facing high levels of acute food insecurity, and called for urgent action.
"The warnings in this report cannot be ignored," said WFP acting Executive Director Carl Skau. Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, and the Gaza Strip remain the hot spots of greatest concern, the report said, while Nigeria and Somalia have been newly added to that category as conditions worsen. Seven other countries are on the hotspot list: Afghanistan, Congo, Myanmar, Haiti, Mali, and now Lebanon and Madagascar. The agencies said conflict and violence are the main drivers of hunger in nearly all the hot spots, compounded by economic shocks, deep cuts to humanitarian funding, and the expected impact of an El Niño weather pattern, which could bring droughts and floods to vulnerable regions.
They warned that additional pressures, including spillover effects from the Middle East conflict and an Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, are worsening the outlook by disrupting markets, livelihoods, and aid access. Funding for food assistance and related programs has dropped sharply—by about 59% since 2022—even as needs have surged, the report said. There was an infusion announced Tuesday: The US pledged $800 million to WFP, which the agency said will help more than 38 million people in at least 37 countries. Still, WFP's more than $10 billion appeal for 2026 remains severely underfunded.
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