UN agency says 13.7 million people face severe hunger due to global aid cuts

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

ROME (Reuters) -Almost 14 million people in countries including Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, risk severe hunger due to cuts in global humanitarian aid, the United Nations World Food Programme has warned.

The WFP’s biggest donor, the United States, has slashed its foreign aid under President Donald Trump, and other major nations have also made or announced cuts in development and humanitarian assistance. 

“WFP’s funding has never been more challenged. The agency expects to receive 40% less funding for 2025, resulting in a projected budget of $6.4 billion, down from $10 billion in 2024,” the Rome-based agency said on Wednesday.

A WFP report, titled “A Lifeline at Risk”, estimated that cuts to its food assistance could push 13.7 million people from “crisis” to “emergency” levels of hunger, one step away from famine in a five-level international hunger scale.

Major WFP operations in six countries – Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan – are facing serious funding shortages before the end of the year, the agency said.

A WFP spokesperson clarified on Thursday that the expected 13.7-million increase in the number of severely hungry people included, but was “not exclusive”, to those six countries.

“The gap between what WFP needs to do and what we can afford to do has never been larger. We are at risk of losing decades of progress in the fight against hunger,” WFP executive director Cindy McCain said.

“It’s not just the countries engulfed in major emergencies. Even hard-won gains in the Sahel region, where 500,000 people have been lifted out of aid dependence, could experience severe setbacks without help, and we want to prevent that,” she added.

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Gavin Jones)