Humanitarian funding cuts are driving millions deeper into hunger across West and Central Africa as violence and displacement spike, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned. The agency expects 55 million people to face crisis-level hunger or worse during the June-August 2026 lean season. More than 13 million children will likely suffer from malnutrition this year, while over three million people will hit emergency food insecurity levels—double the 1.5 million in 2020.
Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger account for 77 percent of the region’s food insecurity, according to the latest Cadre Harmonisé analysis. In Nigeria’s Borno State, 15,000 people face catastrophic hunger for the first time in nearly a decade.
Conflict, displacement, and economic chaos have fueled the crisis, but slashed humanitarian budgets are now pushing communities past their breaking point. In Mali, families who received reduced food rations saw acute hunger jump 64 percent since 2023, while those getting full rations saw a 34 percent drop. Insecurity has cut off supply lines to major cities, leaving 1.5 million Malians facing crisis-level hunger. Nigeria’s funding shortfalls last year forced WFP to scale back nutrition programs, affecting over 300,000 children—malnutrition levels in several northern states have gone from serious to critical.
“The reduced funding we saw in 2025 has deepened hunger and malnutrition across the region,” said Sarah Longford, WFP’s Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “As needs outpace funding, so too does the risk of young people falling into desperation.”
Without urgent money, more than half a million vulnerable people in Cameroon could lose life-saving assistance within weeks. In Nigeria, WFP will only reach 72,000 people in February—down from 1.3 million during last year’s lean season. The agency needs over $453 million in the next six months to keep operating.
