Food and Nutrition Crises Burgeon in Face of Conflict, Funding Cuts: GRFC Mid-Year Update Released

Hunger and food crisis have reached catastrophic levels in multiple places around the world, according to the Global Report on Food Crises Mid-Year Update. Famine has been confirmed in the Gaza Strip and the Sudan, with parts of South Sudan at risk of famine and Yemen, Haiti, and Mali experiencing catastrophic levels of hunger.

In all, 1.4 million people faced IPC Level 5 (Catastrophe) food insecurity and hunger as of August 2025.

The world’s worst food crises are primarily conflict-driven and nearly entirely manmade, the report points out. Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Sudan have the largest numbers of people in acute food insecurity; Gaza, South Sudan, and Yemen have the highest shares of the population facing acute food insecurity.

In addition to conflict, extreme weather events and economic and structural shocks continue to contribute to the world’s worsening food crises. Since 2024, food security has deteriorated drastically in 14 countries due to a combination of these factors. These conditions all impact both agricultural production and livelihoods, as well as overall food affordability and access.  

Displaced populations face substantially higher levels of hunger and acute food insecurity in countries facing food crisis. Conflict continues to drive new internal displacement in a number of countries, including Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Gaza Strip, Haiti, South Sudan, and the Sudan. Ten million people are currently internally displaced in the Sudan, while nearly 740,000 people were newly displaced in the Gaza Strip between March and July. As these and other displaced populations continue to grow, the number of people lacking access to food, clean water, and essential services will increase as well.

Nutrition crises also continue to worsen, according to the mid-year update. Twenty-six countries/territories experiencing food crisis as of August 2025 were also identified as facing a nutrition crisis. The Gaza Strip, the Sudan, South Sudan, and Yemen are facing the most severe nutrition crises, followed by Kenya, Chad, Djibouti, Somalia, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Afghanistan, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Bangladesh, Madagascar, Burundi, and Mozambique.

In addition to areas where humanitarian aid flows have slowed or even ceased completely due to conflict, the world has also seen a significant reduction in humanitarian aid budgets and official development assistance budgets throughout 2025. As funding for emergency food aid and other development assistance slows, food and nutrition crises will only continue to worsen. The mid-year update reports that targets for humanitarian aid have been reduced from 100 million people to 76 million people. These reduced targets mean that only 25 percent of the populations identified by the 2025 GRFC as in urgent need of food and livelihood assistance will be able to receive aid.

The mid-year update concludes with a strong call for action from the international community. The immediate cessation of hostilities and resumption of unhindered humanitarian access in numerous hotspots around the world can prevent further large-scale acute hunger and hunger-related deaths, while a renewed dedication to conflict resolution and restored humanitarian aid funding can prevent future food crises from escalating into famine, potentially saving millions of lives.

Sara Gustafson is a freelance writer.