NEW YORK CITY: The World Food Programme warned on Wednesday that a sharp decrease in funding is pushing food aid operations in crisis-hit countries, including Gaza, Sudan and Yemen, toward collapse, risking famine among millions of people already on the brink of starvation.
In a report titled “A Lifeline at Risk,” WFP officials said unprecedented funding shortfalls are forcing the agency to slash rations, suspend vital food distributions, and cut entire populations off from aid in six of the world’s most fragile places: Gaza, Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan.
“Across these six countries, we’re seeing people completely cut off from assistance,” said Ross Smith, director of emergency preparedness and response.
“These are the most vulnerable, living in the most fragile settings. We are at a breaking point.”
Jean-Martin Bauer, the organization’s director of food security and nutrition analysis, joined Smith in warning that projections suggest 13.7 million people will fall into emergency levels of hunger this year alone as a direct result of funding cuts.
“This isn’t theoretical,” Bauer. “These are mothers and children being turned away from clinics. This is the last lifeline being severed.
“We are looking at two concurrent famines for the first time in WFP’s history, in Gaza and Sudan, and the number of people facing famine-like conditions has doubled in just two years.”
According to the WFP, 1.4 million people in five places — Gaza, Sudan, South Sudan, Mali and Yemen — are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity ranked by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system as Phase 5; this denotes the worst possible situation, or famine-like conditions.
Palestinians gather to receive food portions from a charity kitchen in the Nuseirat refugee camp, located in the central Gaza Strip, on October 15, 2025, two days after a ceasefire came into effect. (AFP)
In Gaza, the WFP warned, access restrictions and funding gaps could leave vast swaths of the population without food in the coming weeks.
The situation in Sudan, described by the organization as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, is equally alarming. Although the WFP provided 4.1 million people with aid in August, it said it has the capacity to reach nearly double that number but lacks the resources to do so.
“Unless urgent funding is secured, we will have to reduce our footprint in Sudan and many other places,” Smith said.
Other countries causing great concern include Afghanistan, where the WFP said it can currently assist less than 10 percent of the more than 10 million people facing acute food insecurity. Winter assistance is expected to reach less than 8 percent of those in need.
In South Sudan, record flooding has displaced populations, but funding shortfalls have forced the organization to scale down large-scale food-aid programs to a “famine-prevention” model that targets only the most critical areas.
In Somalia, emergency food assistance has been cut by 75 percent compared with a year ago, with only 350,000 people targeted for help in November.
In Haiti, funding shortfalls have forced the suspension of efforts to provide hot meals for displaced communities, and left the country unprepared for the ongoing hurricane season.
Globally, 319 million people are affected by acute food insecurity, and 44 million are already at emergency levels of hunger. WFP officials said the situation is exacerbated by a dangerous narrative that suggests some crises, such as the situations in Afghanistan or Haiti, are no longer emergencies.
“There’s a real risk that the world turns away, just as needs reach their peak,” Bauer said, warning that the erosion of humanitarian infrastructure and data systems could have long-term consequences.
“The GPS of the humanitarian system — our data and analytics — is now also under threat. Without it, we’re flying blind,” he added.
The WFP expects a 40 percent reduction in its assistance levels this year, with further cuts possible in 2026 unless donors urgently step in to help.
“Famine is not inevitable,” said Bauer. “But without action, it is becoming increasingly likely.”
