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Let's break the cycle.
Hunger is on the rise
for the fourth year in a row.
Of all the contributing factors,
Out of 690 million people facing hunger around the world,
60% live in countries affected by violence and conflict.
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) | WFP/Jacques David
Conflict can drive food crises - situations in which people experience acute hunger and require urgent food, nutrition and livelihood assistance.
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) | WFP/Tara Crossley
In fact,OVER 75%of the world's main
food crises are driven
by conflict.
and forces them to leave their homes, land and jobs. Right now, more than 68 million people are displaced due to violence — more than any other period in history, including World War II.
and destabilizes markets. It can ruin a country's infrastructure. When a community faces conflict, agricultural production is disrupted and families are deprived of food, income and assets.
and vice versa. Conflict makes food difficult to produce and afford, while competition for food and scarce resources multiplies the threat of civil war — especially in countries that are already unstable.
and heightens the risk of premature death. Nearly 80% of stunted children — about 122 out of 155 million — live in countries affected by conflict. A child living in a country ravaged by conflict is more than 2X as likely to be malnourished.
Among the 13 most significant food crises across the globe today, 10 are driven by conflict. Take a look at the regions impacted most by violence and conflict:
Click on a region to see more detail.
Yemen is the world's largest hunger crisis, and conflict is the key driver. Over 20 million Yemenis — that's 70% of the country's population — don't know where their next meal is coming from. Over 200,000 are now on the brink of famine, and 3.2 million women and children need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition.
More than nine years of war in Syria have pushed a record 9.3 million Syrians to extreme levels of hunger and poverty. More than 6.2 million are displaced inside the country and another 5.6 million have fled to neighboring countries. Syrian children have born the brunt of the war's effects and more than 1.7 million of them are out of school.
The Central Sahel - comprised of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - faces a deadly combination of conflict and climate change. Right now, more than 7 million people are dangerously hungry, and that figure could double in a few months. The number of displaced people has risen 258% - to nearly 1.6M - in less than a year.
Conflict in Nigeria is affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. Nearly 9 million people are facing severe levels of hunger, including over 1 million children under 5 who are acutely malnourished. Violence and insecurity are wreaking havoc on an already crumbling economy. Nigeria houses more extremely poor people than any other country in the world at 90 million with another 10 million on the horizon due to instability.
Due to armed conflict and widespread displacement, the DRC is on track to surpass Yemen as the world's worst hunger crisis. Decades of civil war have left millions dead or displaced. The number of severely hungry people has skyrocketed from 13M last year to nearly 22M today because of this toxic mix.
Humanitarian intervention has prevented famine from sweeping across the entire country of South Sudan — but more than 7 million people, half the population, are severely food insecure after years of violence, instability and civil war.
But hunger can also cause conflict - especially in impoverished and economically unstable regions.
When families in crisis gain access to food and become self-reliant, entire communities have a greater chance at
The World Food Programme reaches conflict zones others can’t.
With your support, WFP is working on the front line of crises to help the world’s most vulnerable people in conflict zones.
Nigeria | WFP/Rein Skullerud
we have against conflict and hunger.
When conflict erupts, food is one of the first things people lose access to. WFP provides lifesaving food and nutrition assistance in the form of direct food distributions, food vouchers or cash transfers.
In times of conflict, the most vulnerable people are often women, very young children and nursing mothers. WFP fends off malnutrition by providing them with specialized nutritious foods full of vitamins and micro-nutrients.
In conflict zones, when people don’t know where their next meal will come from, children are often pulled out of school to make money. WFP’s school meals program is a major incentive to keep them in the classroom, providing critical calories and nutrition they can depend on.
When war starts, it turns lives upside down. WFP combines short-term assistance with longer-term projects to build back people’s ability to be self-reliant. Activities include land rehabilitation, agriculture training for small-scale farmers, building infrastructure and bolstering local food markets.
WFP has spent over five decades working through crises. Its teams have accrued vast expertise and capacity in supply chain management, engineering and emergency telecommunications — often in the most challenging environments. On any given day, 5,600 trucks, 100 planes and 30 ships are delivering food across the globe and supporting other humanitarian agencies in large-scale responses to the world’s most pressing emergencies.
