The UN World Food Programme (WFP) issued the warning on
Friday, citing
latest analysis from the food security framework Cadre
Harmonisé, the regional equivalent of the Integrated Food
Security Phase Classification (IPC) that uses a one to five
scale – with five spelling catastrophe/famine – to
inform response.
It projects that 13 million children
are also expected to suffer from malnutrition this year
while over three million people will face emergency levels
of food insecurity – more than double the 1.5
million in 2020.
Communities cannot
cope
Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger
account for 77 per cent of the food insecurity
figures, including 15,000 people in Nigeria’s
Borno state at risk of catastrophic hunger for the first
time in nearly a decade.
Although a combination of
conflict, displacement, and economic turmoil has been
driving hunger in West and Central Africa, the slashes to
humanitarian funding are now pushing communities beyond
their ability to cope.
“The reduced funding we saw
in 2025 has deepened hunger and malnutrition across the
region,” said Sarah Longford, WFP Deputy Regional
Director.
“As needs outpace funding, so too does the
risk of young people falling into
desperation.”
Rations reduced, hunger
soars
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WFP urgently requires more than $453
million over the next six months to continue its
humanitarian assistance across the region, where the impacts
of the aid budget cuts are evident.
In
Mali, when families received reduced food
rations, areas experienced a nearly 65 per cent surge in
acute hunger (IPC 3+) since 2023, compared with a 34 per
cent decrease in communities that received full
rations.
Continued insecurity has disrupted critical
supply lines to major cities – including for food – and
1.5 million of the country’s most vulnerable people are on
track to face crisis levels of hunger.
Malnutrition
levels deteriorate
In Nigeria,
funding shortfalls last year forced WFP to scale down
nutrition programmes, affecting more than 300,000 children.
Since then, malnutrition levels in several northern states
have deteriorated from “serious” to
“critical.”
The UN agency will only be able to
reach 72,000 people in Nigeria in February, down from the
1.3 million assisted during the 2025 lean
season.
Meanwhile, more than half a million vulnerable
people in Cameroon are at risk of being cut
off from assistance in the coming weeks.
‘Paradigm
shift’ needed
WFP underscored the importance of
having adequate funding for its operations, which have
helped to improve food security in the region.
For
example, teams have worked with local communities in five
countries to rehabilitate 300,000 hectares of farmland to
support more than four million people in over 3,400
villages.
WFP programmes have also supported
infrastructure development, school meals, nutrition,
capacity building and seasonal aid to help families manage
extreme weather and security risks, stabilise local
economies and reduce dependency on aid.
“To
break the cycle of hunger for future generations, we need a
paradigm shift in 2026,” Ms. Longford
said.
She urged governments and their partners to step
up investment in preparedness, anticipatory action, and
resilience-building to empower local
communities.
