Tens of Millions at Risk of Extreme Hunger and Starvation as Unprecedented Funding Crisis Spirals

ROME – The World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that 58 million people risk losing lifesaving assistance in the agency’s 28 most critical crisis response operations unless new funding is received urgently.

Despite the generosity of many governments and individual donors, WFP is experiencing a steep decline in funding across its major donors. The severity of these cuts, combined with record levels of people in need, have led to an unprecedented crisis for tens of millions across the globe reliant on food aid.

Right now, the organization is facing an alarming 40% drop in funding for 2025, as compared to last year. This is having severe repercussions for its food aid efforts globally, particularly emergency feeding programs that support the most vulnerable.

“WFP is prioritizing countries with the greatest needs and stretching food rations at the frontlines. While we are doing everything possible to reduce operational costs, make no mistake, we are facing a funding cliff with life-threatening consequences,” said Rania Dagash-Kamara, WFP assistant executive director for partnerships and innovation. “Emergency feeding programs not only save lives and alleviate human suffering, they bring greatly needed stability to fragile communities, which can spiral downwards when faced with extreme hunger.”

WFP on the Frontlines 

Today, global hunger is skyrocketing as 343 million people face extreme food insecurity, driven by an unrelenting wave of global crises including conflict, economic instability and climate-related emergencies. In 2025, WFP’s operations are focused on supporting just over one-third of those in need – roughly 123 million of the world’s hungriest people – nearly half of whom (58 million) are at imminent risk of losing access to food assistance.

Last year, WFP teams helped feed more than 120 million people in 80 countries, delivering urgent food aid to hunger hotspots and frontline crises around the world. 

Imminent Pipeline Breaks

As WFP works to quickly adapt its operations to current low funding levels, it is alerting donors that its 28 most critical crisis response operations are facing severe funding constraints and dangerously low food supplies through August. 

The 28 programs span: Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, South Sudan, Chad, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Uganda, Niger, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Yemen, Mali, Bangladesh, Venezuela, Haiti, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, Kenya, Ukraine, Malawi, Burundi, Ethiopia, Gaza, Central African Republic, Jordan and Egypt. 

Below are a few examples of these programs.
 

• Sudan: WFP requires nearly $570 million to support over 7 million people per month in Sudan where a looming pipeline break will hit as early as April. Famine was first confirmed in Zamzam camp near the embattled city of El Fasher and has since spread to 10 areas across North Darfur and the Western Nuba mountains. In Sudan, 24.6 million people do not have enough to eat. Delays in funding to deliver emergency food assistance, emergency nutrition and emergency logistics will cut a vital lifeline for millions with immediate and devastating consequences for vulnerable populations, who in many cases are just one step away from starvation.

• DRC: WFP requires $399 million to feed 6.4 million as escalating violence by militia groups in the east has already displaced more than a million people. Food and nutrition assistance across the DRC is vital to stabilize the region and reach the most vulnerable who have already been displaced by conflict multiple times.

• Gaza: WFP emergency response requires approximately $265 million over the next six months to provide support to nearly 1.4 million people in Gaza and the West Bank. An additional $34 million is urgently needed for 3-month shock-responsive cash transfer assistance to support 40,000 families in the West Bank. The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains critical with over 2 million people fully dependent on food assistance – most of them displaced, without shelter and income.
• Syria: WFP requires $140 million to provide food and nutrition assistance to 1.2 million people every month. Without new funding, WFP faces a pipeline break in August which would cut off food assistance to 1 million of the most severely food-insecure individuals. Any disruption in lifesaving assistance threatens to erode stability and social cohesion during a critical moment when millions of Syrians try to return home.
• Lebanon: WFP requires $162 million to feed 1.4 million people as severe funding shortfalls are already disrupting food assistance to vulnerable Lebanese and Syrian refugees – fostering instability and heightened social tensions. With an ongoing economic crisis and government transition in Lebanon, food insecurity continues to rise with one in three already facing acute hunger. 
• South Sudan: WFP requires $281 million to provide food and nutrition assistance to 2.3 million people escaping war, climate extremes and an economic disaster – plunging them into a severe hunger crisis. South Sudan has also seen more than 1 million people arrive, fleeing from the war in Sudan. Nearly two-thirds of the people in South Sudan are acutely food insecure. New funding for WFP’s crisis response activities in South Sudan is needed now to preposition lifesaving food ahead of the rainy season.

• Myanmar: WFP requires $60 million to provide lifesaving food assistance to 1.2 million people. Without immediate new funding a pipeline break in April will cut off 1 million from all support. Increased conflict, displacement and access restrictions are already sharply driving up food aid needs as the lean season is expected to begin in July when food shortages hit hardest.

• Haiti: WFP requires $10 million to feed 1.3 million as brutal violence by armed groups has caused record levels of hunger and displacement. Half the population is facing extreme hunger and a quarter of the children under the age of 5 are stunted. More than a million people have been forced from their homes, including a record 60,000 in just one month this year. WFP has been providing hot meals and cash assistance to displaced people, but without new funding, that lifesaving assistance could be suspended in the coming weeks.

• Sahel and Lake Chad Basin: WFP requires $570 million to reach 5 million people with lifesaving food and nutrition assistance. Without new funding a pipeline break is expected in April. Millions of the most vulnerable people in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, the Central African Republic, Cameroon and Nigeria in need of emergency support also face dire consequences as the June to August lean season approaches. At current funding levels, 5 million people risk losing critical support from WFP in the months ahead.