Food insecurity is projected to worsen in Sudan and nearly two dozen other conflict-affected regions over the next six months, largely due to ongoing violence, according to a joint report from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
Released Thursday, the latest report provides early warnings on areas where food crises are expected to intensify, focusing on regions with severe and worsening hunger. Sudan, in particular, has faced an 18-month conflict that has severely disrupted food supplies, displaced people, and blocked humanitarian aid access. Weather events like flooding have further compounded the crisis.
The FAO and WFP report identifies 22 hunger hotspots globally, with Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Palestine, and Haiti rated as the most critical. These countries face the risk of famine, with parts of their populations already experiencing catastrophic food shortages. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu stated that people in these areas are dealing with “unprecedented, enduring starvation.”
Sudan’s ongoing war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has driven one of the world’s most acute humanitarian crises, with reports of daily child deaths due to hunger in some towns. In one displacement camp, famine has been declared, and floods have added to the crisis by causing additional displacement and fatalities. The report cautions that an escalation of violence could lead to further mass displacements, impacting neighboring countries such as Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, and the Central African Republic.
FAO official Aurélien Mellin emphasized that without urgent humanitarian aid and efforts to reduce conflict, starvation and loss of life are likely to intensify in Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Palestine, and Haiti.
Other hotspots identified as high-risk areas for acute food insecurity include Chad, Nigeria, Mozambique, Lebanon, Myanmar, Syria, and Yemen. For the first time, Namibia and Lesotho were listed as hunger hotspots due to recent adverse weather events and decreased agricultural production. Countries like Kenya, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, Somalia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe also face elevated food insecurity concerns.
A predicted La Niña climate event from November 2024 to March 2025 is expected to worsen food security by increasing flood risks in some countries, including Nigeria and Zimbabwe, while causing drought in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. Mellin warned that La Niña’s extreme weather patterns could significantly impact food security and exacerbate economic losses and human suffering in already vulnerable regions.
Kevin Mugenya of Mercy Corps Ethiopia noted that the report underscored a deepening hunger crisis across Africa, driven by conflict, economic challenges, and climate change—factors that are creating the worst hunger crisis in a generation. This crisis, Mugenya said, has been compounded by years of conflict disrupting food supply chains and reducing land available for farming.
The report calls for immediate, expanded assistance in hunger hotspots to support livelihoods and improve access to food.
