New York: For the first time since 2017, famine has been officially declared — this time in war-ravaged Sudan, where millions are facing starvation amid escalating conflict.
The alarm was first raised in July 2024 in the Zamzam camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Darfur. Since then, famine conditions have been confirmed in five additional areas, with 17 more at risk of tipping over the edge.
The situation reflects a staggering humanitarian catastrophe. In less than two years since war erupted between rival factions in Sudan, more than 13 million people have been uprooted, and over 30 million are now in urgent need of aid, according to the United Nations.
Zamzam and other camps across Darfur and the Nuba Mountains are being emptied yet again as violence spreads unchecked. The scale of suffering places Sudan among the most severe food insecurity emergencies in modern history.
But it’s not alone.
According to the 2025 Global Report on Food Crises, over 295 million people across 53 countries and territories faced acute food insecurity in the past year — a record 22.6 percent of the analyzed population. The report warns that the global food system is under immense strain from interconnected crises.
“This report is a stark reminder that the world is heading dangerously off course,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Thirty-six countries have been trapped in prolonged food crises since 2016, with 80 percent of their populations consistently experiencing high levels of food insecurity. Worse, the number of people classified as experiencing catastrophic hunger (IPC Phase 5) has doubled since 2023.
In its first inclusion of nutrition data, the report estimates 37.7 million children aged six months to five years are suffering from acute malnutrition across 26 countries.
The drivers of this crisis are varied and overlapping — protracted conflicts, economic collapse, climate change, and blocked humanitarian access. From Sudan and South Sudan to Myanmar, Haiti, and Palestine’s Gaza Strip — where the entire population experienced hunger in 2024 — crises are compounding with devastating effects.
Climate disruptions such as drought in Sudan and flooding in parts of Southern Africa have severely impacted crop production. Economic shocks, inflation, and trade instability have only added pressure, particularly in countries like Syria with fragile systems already in place.
But perhaps most alarming is the shrinking funding for aid efforts. The World Food Programme (WFP) warned of a 45% drop in funding for food-based humanitarian responses. WFP Director Cindy McCain voiced deep concern over operational capacity: “At this rate, we may not even be able to keep planes in the sky.”
The report emphasizes the urgent need to rethink approaches to food insecurity. It calls for a pivot toward long-term investment in resilience and sustainable agriculture, rather than short-term emergency relief. Sustainable agricultural solutions are noted to be four times more effective than food aid, yet currently receive only a fraction of the funding.
The UN’s Pact for the Future, agreed in 2024, identified global hunger as a systemic failure — not just a crisis of food but of political will and human solidarity. Looking ahead, the upcoming UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake in July 2025, to be held in Addis Ababa, is being touted as a crucial moment for global leaders to act.
“Hunger in this century is a moral failure,” said Secretary-General Guterres. “We must not meet empty stomachs with empty promises.”
[United Nations]
