UN agencies warn that 2.2 million young children are suffering from acute malnutrition, and 7.8 million people are at risk of hunger.

Standing on top of a towering anthill in the arid fields of northeastern Somalia, 10-year-old Farah and his mother, Safiya Maxamed, cover their faces from the sun, as they keep watch over their handful of goats feeding off a pile of thorny branches. Out of their one hundred goats, only five have survived three consecutive failed rainy seasons.  Families who once relied on livestock have lost nearly everything, forcing them to cut meals or flee. Around 6.5 million people face severe hunger, nearly double in a year. Although aid from the World Food Programme previously prevented famine, reduced funding now limits help. Urgent international support is needed to scale up food assistance and prevent another humanitarian catastrophe.

Deliveries of fresh flatbread in Gaza reach the population, offering a sense of normality as the ceasefire takes hold. The bakeries offer a tangible sign that a precarious normality is returning. The loaves rolling out of their fiery ovens are part of a massive and rapid scale-up of WFP food assistance for people facing severe and even catastrophic hunger - with the aim of feeding up to 1.6 million in the first three months. Trucks of WFP food assistance now entering the Strip are supporting bakeries, nutrition programmes and general food distributions. Those distributions will expand as conditions allow more food to enter the Strip and bakeries to reopen. Tens of thousands of metric tonnes of our food are ready for dispatch or heading to the Strip. “The smell of bread gives people hope that things are going to get back to normal,” says Samer Abdeljaber, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa & Eastern Europe. As more food reaches hungry people, he adds, “anxiety levels go down, so they can trust that more food is going to come in the next days.”

When funding is squeezed, humanitarian operations suffer – and so do the people that organizations such as the World Food Programme set out to assist. With funding down 40 percent since last year, WFP has to reduce and even end rations for some of the most vulnerable people. This year, WFP aims to reach 98 million people with food and nutrition assistance as 343 million people in 74 countries face acute hunger. Yet money alone will not solve this crisis. In context after context, across continents, achieving peace – or, at least, peaceful conditions – remains critical for WFP to assist people at scale. Ross Smith, WFP’s Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, describes what WFP sees on the ground, the gaps in funding, and how conflict is deepening urgency.  

It's encouraging to see that nearly 80 million more children are now receiving school meals compared to 2020, bringing the total to about 466 million. A new World Food Programme (WFP) report shows that the increase is especially impactful in low-income countries, where participation in school meal programs has surged by 60%. In Africa, about 20 million more children are being nurtured through these efforts, with significant strides in countries like Kenya, Madagascar, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. This rare success in the development space is being led by governments around the world.

Earlier this year, the World Food Programme’s food and nutrition support reached 1.3 million people in northern Nigeria. Without an immediate influx in donations, only half that will be assisted in August.

Learn more about this rare and deadliest form of hunger, which is spreading in Sudan and threatens Gaza and elsewhere – and how WFP is fighting it.

Since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, over 75% of the country's 10.5 million children have been born into a war-torn environment. Many now face severe consequences, including rising malnutrition rates and inadequate access to essential nutrients. Historically, Syria had no significant child malnutrition issues, but prolonged conflict, economic collapse, and recent crises have drastically changed this. Currently, 9.1 million people are food insecure, and the World Food Programme has significantly reduced assistance due to funding shortages. Child malnutrition rates have nearly tripled from 1.7% in 2019 to 4.8% today, with some coastal areas experiencing rates as high as 14%. Additionally, malnutrition among pregnant and breastfeeding women has surged, posing serious health risks for both mothers and their children.

The World Food Programme urges the international community to increase funding and support a full-scale humanitarian response to address the urgent food security needs of over 2 million people in Gaza.

The term "food basket" is often used to describe a form of assistance the World Food Programme provides to people caught up in crisis. Here's what it means

Despite restrictions on women in Afghanistan, the Sharifa sisters have built a thriving business with WFP's support. In other countries, farmers tackle the climate crisis, women create savings groups, communities reduce food waste, and support nutrition through traditional crops. In looking back at a year in which the World Food Programme has been responding to major crises - including Gaza, Sudan and Haiti - it's time to shine a light on other equally important aspects of WFP's work. Alongside its work in emergencies, its resilience-building activities empower people to create food security over the long term; saving lives and changing lives. Here are a few stories you may have missed.

The latest FAO-WFP Hunger Hotspots report is clear: Catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity persist. In 5 countries - Palestine, Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali - people are or may soon face catastrophic food insecurity mainly due to conflict. These high-risk areas demand urgent action. Also, over 15 countries face varying levels of acute food insecurity, with 4 new hotspot nations added to the list. The report also warns of an impending La Niña event, which threatens to bring extreme climate conditions that could further disrupt lives and livelihoods across numerous hunger hotspots.

WFP leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Palestine and Sudan – three of our biggest emergencies – call for the guns to fall silent.

Across the globe, the way Indigenous Peoples produce, transform and consume food is based on a deep knowledge of the local ecosystems. WFP is tapping into this knowledge to fight hunger.

“Prior to this war [in Gaza], people had dreams. Today people's dreams are about survival.”

Matthew Hollingworth has worked in conflict zones around the world, from Ukraine to South Sudan and Syria. Previously in charge of the World Food Programme’s (WFP) emergency operations in the West Bank and Gaza, Matthew was responsible for delivering life-saving aid to desperate people.

“People ask me every single day when I'm in Gaza: “When will the bombs stop? When will the fighting stop? When will they stop blowing things up? When can I go home?” We don't have the answers. But we do know that that is what's needed.”

WFP delivers food relief to more than 120 countries across the world suffering the impacts of conflicts, disasters and climate change. In this episode of Awake at Night (recorded on 21 June 2024), Matthew Hollingworth reflects on his daily struggle to prevent famine in Gaza, on the apocalyptic scale of the destruction there, and on the morale boost he gets from working with extraordinary colleagues on the ground.