The latest United Nations (UN) early warning report has identified 18 hunger “hotspots,” including Nigeria, where acute food insecurity is expected to worsen in both severity and scope.
The report specifically emphasizes the urgent need for intervention to prevent famine in Gaza and Sudan, as well as to address the escalating hunger crises in Haiti, Mali, and South Sudan. It also highlights the lingering impact of El Niño and the looming threat of La Niña, which could bring about further climate extremes with significant impacts on lives and livelihoods.
According to the report, several countries, including the Central African Republic, Lebanon, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Zambia, have now joined Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, Somalia, and Zimbabwe as hunger hotspots, where acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in the near future.
The report stresses that many of these hotspots are facing growing hunger crises due to the compounding effects of simultaneous and overlapping shocks, including conflict, climate extremes, and economic instability, which continue to drive vulnerable households into food crises.
Furthermore, the report underscores the concerning trend of declining humanitarian funding in 2023, which, if realized, would mark the first such decrease since 2010. Despite this, it still represents the second-highest funding level ever for humanitarian assistance.
FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, has emphasized the need for a shift from a reactive crisis response to proactive anticipatory approaches, prevention, and resilience building to help vulnerable communities prepare for upcoming shocks. He stresses that taking action ahead of crises can save lives, reduce food shortages, and safeguard livelihoods at a much lower cost than a delayed humanitarian response.
Similarly, WFP Executive Director, Cindy McCain, warns about the catastrophic consequences of delaying action in response to famine declarations, citing the devastating impact in Somalia in 2011. She urges for immediate efforts to prevent these hotspots from escalating into widespread hunger crises, stressing the availability of proven solutions to address these challenges with the necessary resources and political will.
Finally, the report highlights the ongoing conflict in Palestine as a factor expected to exacerbate already catastrophic levels of acute hunger, leading to starvation, death, and widespread destruction and displacement in the Gaza Strip.
