When the Lifeline Falters: How Funding Cuts are Deepening Global Hunger
Written By Maxine Ansah
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
In the eastern reaches of Afghanistan, where the harsh winter months loom and shelter is scarce, families like Khair Rahman’s brace for survival. Their home was lost to an August earthquake in Kunar Province, and now they face another blow. The World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to cut food assistance due to dwindling funds. “Winter is near,” Rahman says. “And we cannot live like this in the winter.” His story is echoed across continents, from South Asia to sub-Saharan Africa, where the humanitarian safety net that once sustained millions is beginning to fray.
According to WFP’s new report A Lifeline at Risk, global funding shortfalls have left the agency facing a 40 percent drop in donations this year. The consequences are dire. Up to 13.7 million people who currently depend on WFP assistance could slide from crisis into emergency food insecurity, known as IPC Phase 4, the second-highest level on the global hunger scale. This would mean a catastrophic rise in hunger among already vulnerable populations.
For six countries in particular – Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan – the situation is reaching a breaking point. In each, conflict, displacement and climate disasters have already pushed millions to the edge. Now, shrinking food assistance threatens to tip them over. Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of WFP’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Service, calls the phenomenon a “slow burn”. The true impact of the cuts, he warns, has yet to fully unfold but could “severely undermine global food security” in the months ahead.
The numbers tell a devastating story. In Somalia, where drought and insecurity have left 4.4 million people facing acute hunger, only 350,000 will receive WFP food assistance next month, compared to 2.2 million a year ago. In the DRC, a record 28 million people are severely hungry, including 10.3 million in the conflict-ravaged east. Cecile, a mother of five from North Kivu, fled fighting in Rubaya twice before returning to find her home looted and her family’s possessions gone. “We were forced to start from scratch,” she says. Her family relies on WFP vouchers for food, support that may soon disappear.
The crisis extends beyond immediate hunger. As WFP and other humanitarian agencies scale back, the ripple effects could destabilise entire regions. Reduced food assistance can drive families to desperate measures, from early marriages and child labour to migration and social unrest. “These cuts are triggering additional food insecurity that in itself could have impacts at the country and regional levels,” Bauer notes, warning that the stability of fragile nations could be at stake.
In Haiti, where 5.7 million people face acute or worse food insecurity, WFP has been forced to end school meals and halve monthly rations. There are no contingency food stocks in the country for the first time since 2016, leaving it dangerously exposed to hurricanes, earthquakes and civil unrest. “We know Haiti gets hit by disasters,” says Bauer, who once served as WFP Country Director there. “We’re not able to respond quickly should something happen.”
In South Sudan and Niger, where communities battle floods and droughts, reduced funding is crippling programmes that build resilience and reduce dependency on aid. Across the Sahel, WFP initiatives that once lifted half a million people out of aid reliance now hang in the balance. These cuts undermine not only emergency response efforts but also the long-term goal of self-sufficiency for affected communities.
Back in Afghanistan, the situation is equally grim. More than nine million people are severely hungry, yet WFP operations face a US$622 million shortfall over the next six months. This means winter assistance which is usually pre-positioned before snow cuts off remote areas, will reach only 8 percent of those in need. “We see millions of Afghans suffering,” says John Aylieff, WFP Country Director in Afghanistan. “But we simply do not have the means to respond.”
For millions worldwide, WFP’s funding crisis is not just about food. It is about survival, stability and the hope of rebuilding shattered lives. The agency’s report urges donors and partners to rethink priorities. It recommends focusing on famine prevention, ensuring that food rations meet minimum nutritional needs, and maintaining critical data collection to guide humanitarian efforts. “The data and analytics, they’re the humanitarian community’s GPS,” Bauer says. “We’re taking the risk of losing our way without the data.”
As hunger surges and humanitarian budgets shrink, A Lifeline at Risk is both a warning and a plea. The world stands at a crossroads. Without renewed commitment to humanitarian aid, millions may be left to face famine, instability and despair. The question now is not whether we can afford to act, but whether we can afford not to.