ROME — Almost 14 million people in countries including Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, risk severe hunger due to cuts in global humanitarian aid, the United Nations World Food Programme has warned.
The WFP’s biggest donor, the United States, has slashed its foreign aid under President Donald Trump, and other major nations have also made or announced cuts in development and humanitarian assistance. “WFP’s funding has never been more challenged. The agency expects to receive 40% less funding for 2025, resulting in a projected budget of $6.4 billion, down from $10 billion in 2024,” the Rome-based agency said on Wednesday. A WFP report, titled “A Lifeline at Risk”, estimated that cuts to its food assistance could push 13.7 million people from “crisis” to “emergency” levels of hunger, one step away from famine in a five-level international hunger scale.
“The gap between what WFP needs to do and what we can afford to do has never been larger. We are at risk of losing decades of progress in the fight against hunger,” WFP executive director Cindy McCain said.