Acute food insecurity and malnutrition rise for sixth consecutive year
16/5/2025: In 2024, over 295 million people across 53 countries and territories faced acute hunger, according to the Global Report on Food Crises. The number of people facing catastrophic hunger more than doubled over the same period to reach 1.9 million, the highest on record since 2016.
Source: Reliefweb
Famine stalks Gaza as Israel blocks aid at the border
14/5/2025: The entire population of Gaza, or 2.1 million people, is facing severe and prolonged food shortages, with 1 in 5 now on the brink of starvation, as Israel blocks aid from entering the territory. Gaza already meets the first threshold to trigger a formal declaration of famine, and humanitarian officials warn it is on the edge of the two others.
Source: Devex
World Food Programme to cut up to 30% of staff
25/4/2025: The US contributed 46% of the World Food Programme’s budget in 2024. Drastic cuts in funding through USAID in recent months have pushed the organization to reduce its operations. This comes as hunger crises escalate around the world, especially in conflict hot spots such as Sudan and Gaza.
Source: Devex
As famine data dries up, can AI step in?
17/4/2025: Researchers are developing AI tools to predict famine more accurately and affordably. The dismantling of USAID has already shuttered FEWS NET, the gold standard for forecasting food crises.
Source: Devex
UN food agency caught in Trump administration’s crosshairs
11/4/2025: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has been ordered by the Trump administration to halt initiatives that do not align with an “America First” foreign policy. The US cannot accept any focus on climate in FAO’s work and no longer affirms the UN Sustainable Development Goals or any agenda for achieving them by 2030.
Source: Devex
Highest recorded incidence of acute food insecurity in DRC
27/3/2025: UN food agencies report that an alarming 28 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are now facing acute hunger, including 3.9 million experiencing emergency levels of hunger. Conflict, economic instability and surging food prices are contributory factors.
Source: World Food Programme
Trump’s aid freeze shuts down global famine-monitoring system
31/1/2025: The famine early warning systems network (Fews Net) for monitoring global food crises appears to have been suspended after President Donald Trump’s executive order froze US foreign aid. Fews Net helps humanitarian organisations decide how to distribute food aid to tens of millions of people around the world.
Source: The Guardian
Myanmar on the brink as conflict fuels hunger
29/1/2025: Hunger has reached alarming levels in Myanmar with the situation set to worsen in 2025, the World Food Programme has warned. A staggering 15 million people are expected to face hunger in 2025. More than 3.5 million people are displaced due to armed conflict and violence.
Source: World Food Programme
How Trump’s US aid stop-work order affects global food aid
29/1/2025: The Trump administration’s 90-day freeze of nearly all foreign assistance has paralyzed a vast swath of US-funded food aid and agricultural research work.W hile “emergency food aid” is exempt from the order, it remains unclear what counts under that umbrella.
Source: Devex
African countries adopt new 10-year agriculture strategy
15/1/2025: The Kampala Declaration, a 10-year strategy adopted by the African Union, commits to increasing the continent’s agricultural output by 45% and tripling intra-African trade in agrifood products by 2035.
Source: Devex