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STORY: UN / GLOBAL REPORT ON FOOD CRISIS PRESSER
TRT: 04:17
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 16 MAY 2025, NEW YORK CITY
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
16 MAY 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press room
3. Multiple screens, participants
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Arif Husain, Chief Economist, World Food Program’s (WFP):
“There are about 295 million people in 53 countries who experienced high levels of acute hunger in 2024. This is almost 14 million more people than 2023. I can also say that since this is the ninth edition, I can tell you that the number is consistently been increasing over the last six years. Today, more than 1 in 5 people who were assessed need food assistance.”
5. Wide shot, press room
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Arif Husain, Chief Economist, World Food Program’s (WFP):
“Palestine, again, had 100 percent of its population in need of urgent assistance. And then you have Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen and Haiti, where close to half of their population have high levels of acute hunger.”
7. Wide shot, press room
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Arif Husain, Chief Economist, World Food Program’s (WFP):
“If you look at funding for the humanitarian food sector. This has increased, since 2016 to 2024, but it has not kept pace with the needs. But now what we are seeing for 2025 is up to a 45 percent drop in humanitarian assistance in the food sector. This will deepen food crises. This will reduce our capacities and our capacities also to monitor and assess what is happening in these countries.”
8. Wide shot, press room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Rein Paulsen, Director, Office of Emergencies and Resilience Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
“One important finding in this year's report is that the number of people in what we describe as stress conditions, IPC 2, that are not normally the focus of attention for humanitarian assistance. That number has ballooned since last year. And we're reporting 345 million people in that stressed condition. These are still vulnerable, still exposed, needing to make difficult choices. And the analysis also shows that those in IPC 1, that number has decreased. And so again, the headline message here is that we're seeing a shift, a global worsening, in numbers. And that's, a real cause for concern as we see this shift from IPC 1 to IPC 2.”
10. Wide shot, press room
11. Multiple screens, participants
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Joan Matji, Director, Nutrition and Child Development, United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF):
“The unprecedented scale and the speed of change is disrupting all the critical services that I highlighted. in my address. And this puts kids’ lives at risk. What this means in terms of numbers is that we estimate that about 15 million children and their mothers that could have had access to nutrition support, all of this is disrupted. Therefore, meaning they're not getting access to proper feeding support, micronutrient supplementation, early detection and treatment, including provision of lifesaving interventions such as therapeutics. So, in particular, almost all of UNICEF's funding, which is catering for humanitarian response sectors, because these cuts are affecting our ability to manage, stabilization centres and to ensure that children are successful.”
13. Multiple screens, participants
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Rein Paulsen, Director, Office of Emergencies and Resilience Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
“I, a resource constrained environment, all of our agencies are looking at not just how we can, do as much as possible with the limited resources, but looking at different programming approaches. Are there cheaper ways to give more people, access to food and to have more food be available? That's the conversation that's really driving all of our work at the moment.”
15. Wide shot, end of presser
Presenting the 2025 Global Report on Food Crises, the World Food Program’s (WFP) Chief Economist, Arif Husain, today (16 May) said, 295 million people in 53 countries experienced high levels of acute hunger in 2024 and warned that for 2025 there is expected to be a “45 percent drop in humanitarian assistance in the food sector.”
Talking to reporters in New Yor by Video Teleconference (VTC), Husain said, “this is almost 14 million more people than 2023,” adding that “the number is consistently been increasing over the last six years,” and “today, more than 1 in 5 people who were assessed need food assistance.”
The WFP official said in 2024, Palestine “had 100 percent of its population in need of urgent assistance, while “Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen and Haiti, where close to half of their population have high levels of acute hunger.”
Turning to the issue of funding for the humanitarian food sector, Husain said this had increased from 2016 to 2024, “but it has not kept pace with the needs.”
The expected 45 percent drop for 2025, he said, “will deepen food crises” and “will reduce our capacities and our capacities also to monitor and assess what is happening in these countries.”
Also briefing, the Food and Agriculture Organization’ (FAO) Director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience Rein Paulsen said, “one important finding in this year's report is that the number of people in what we describe as stress conditions, IPC 2, that are not normally the focus of attention for humanitarian assistance. That number has ballooned since last year. And we're reporting 345 million people in that stressed condition. These are still vulnerable, still exposed, needing to make difficult choices. And the analysis also shows that those in IPC 1, that number has decreased. And so again, the headline message here is that we're seeing a shift, a global worsening, in numbers. And that's, a real cause for concern as we see this shift from IPC 1 to IPC 2.”
For her part Joan Matji, who is UNICEF’s Director of Nutrition and Child Development said, “the unprecedented scale and the speed of change is disrupting all the critical services that I highlighted in my address. And this puts kids’ lives at risk. What this means in terms of numbers is that we estimate that about 15 million children and their mothers that could have had access to nutrition support, all of this is disrupted. Therefore, meaning they're not getting access to proper feeding support, micronutrient supplementation, early detection and treatment, including provision of lifesaving interventions such as therapeutics. So, in particular, almost all of UNICEF's funding, which is catering for humanitarian response sectors, because these cuts are affecting our ability to manage, stabilization centres and to ensure that children are successful.”
Paulsen said, “in a resource constrained environment, all of our agencies are looking at not just how we can, do as much as possible with the limited resources, but looking at different programming approaches. Are there cheaper ways to give more people, access to food and to have more food be available? That's the conversation that's really driving all of our work at the moment.”
The report shows conflict remained the top driver of acute food insecurity, affecting around 140 million people in 20 countries and territories. Famine has been confirmed in Sudan, while other hotspots have people experiencing Catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity include the Gaza Strip, South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali.
Economic shocks including inflation and currency devaluation, drove hunger in 15 countries affecting 59.4 million people - still nearly double pre-COVID 19 levels despite a modest decline from 2023. Some of the largest and most protracted food crises were primarily driven by economic shocks, including in Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen.
Weather extremes particularly El Niño-induced droughts and floods, pushed 18 countries into food crises affecting over 96 million people, with significant impacts in Southern Africa, Southern Asia and the Horn of Africa.
