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A new report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) identifies 13 countries and territories where food insecurity is expected to deteriorate between June and November 2026.<\/p>\n
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The report highlights Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen and Palestine as the most severe crises, with Nigeria and Somalia newly classified among the highest-risk countries due to growing famine concerns.<\/p>\n
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WFP Acting Executive Director Carl Skau said conflict remains the primary driver of hunger. \u201cConflict, shocks, and disasters are forcing families to make impossible decisions about who gets to eat and who goes to bed hungry,\u201d Skau said.<\/p>\n
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The report estimates that around 266 million people across the identified hotspots are already facing severe food insecurity, with conditions expected to worsen without urgent intervention.<\/p>\n
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Support for humanitarian food assistance has declined sharply, with funding for food programmes, agriculture support and nutrition responses falling by an estimated 59% between 2022 and 2025.<\/p>\n
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FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol said early action is critical to preventing further deterioration. \u201cThe challenge is whether we act early enough and at the necessary scale,\u201d Bechdol said.<\/p>\n
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Sudan remains the worst-affected country, with famine risks expected to persist in parts of Darfur and South Kordofan into 2027. Nearly 20 million people in the country were already facing crisis-level hunger earlier this year.<\/p>\n
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In Yemen, more than 18 million people are projected to face severe food insecurity, while conditions in Gaza remain fragile, with over 1.6 million people previously assessed as needing urgent assistance.<\/p>\n
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Nigeria and Somalia have also seen conditions worsen. Parts of Nigeria\u2019s Borno State are at risk of catastrophic hunger, while Somalia faces increased threats due to drought and poor harvests.<\/p>\n
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WFP Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Director Jean-Martin Bauer said multiple factors are compounding the crisis. \u201cEconomic shocks are compounding food insecurity, and climate change is also further intensifying the situation,\u201d Bauer said.<\/p>\n
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The report also warns that climate risks, including a potential El Ni\u00f1o event, could exacerbate droughts and flooding in already vulnerable regions.<\/p>\n
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Humanitarian agencies say ongoing conflicts, including instability in the Middle East and the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are further disrupting markets and aid access.<\/p>\n
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FAO Director Rein Paulsen said funding gaps are limiting the response. \u201cAs of June 2026, only about a third of the requirements for food security funding have been met,\u201d Paulsen said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":37446,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-37444","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Millions of people globally face worsening hunger as conflict, economic shocks and declining aid funding strain already fragile food systems.","published_date":"","news_description":"Millions of people globally face worsening hunger as conflict, economic shocks and declining aid funding strain already fragile food systems.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37447,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37444\/revisions\/37447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=37444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}