The World Food Programme (WFP) has sounded the alarm, warning that parts of Cameroon could slip into catastrophic hunger if an urgent funding shortfall is not addressed. The agency has called for at least US $67 million to sustain operations; without it, many of the emergency food and nutrition schemes may grind to a halt.
At a press briefing in the Cameroonian capital, WFP’s country representative for Cameroon and São Tomé and Príncipe, Gianluca Ferrera, cautioned that years of painstaking progress could be reversed if support dries up. “Without this funding, most of the activities that WFP and partners have been implementing will have to stop, bringing forward a number of risks,” he said.
Cameroon is currently reckoned among the most neglected displacement crises worldwide — battered by overlapping emergencies: insurgency by Boko Haram in the north, a separatist uprising in its two English-speaking regions, and a heavy influx of refugees fleeing instability in the neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR) in the east. On top of that, unpredictable climatic shocks compound the suffering of vulnerable communities.
As of now, over 3.3 million people require humanitarian assistance according to WFP figures — and more than 2 millionare internally displaced. The looming funding crisis threatens to cut food aid and nutrition support to vast swathes of the population. Ferrera disclosed that starting January, over 52,000 children are at risk of losing access to school meals, a critical support in conflict-affected and impoverished zones. Further, the agency may be forced to shut down as many as five of its offices in Cameroon — a move that would jeopardize vital food and nutrition assistance for more than half a million people.
The sharp drop in funding is stark when compared with recent years. In 2022, WFP had received approximately US $106 million for relief operations in Cameroon. By 2025, that figure has plummeted to a mere US $20 million. This downturn in aid comes in the context of wider cuts to foreign assistance, including from the United States, which had previously been a major donor through USAID.
Analysts warn that if additional funds are not secured swiftly, Cameroon could see a rapid reversal of humanitarian gains — leading to widespread hunger, increasing malnutrition, and a deepening of the already fragile situation. The cost isn’t just in meals lost, but in potential long-term setbacks to the health, education, and stability of entire communities.
With millions of lives hanging in the balance, WFP’s appeal underscores the urgent need for renewed international solidarity. Without it, the lives of the most vulnerable — especially children, displaced families, and refugees — are at risk of a humanitarian disaster of catastrophic proportions.
