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STORY: UN / HUNGER HOT SPOTS
TRT: 03:11
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, exterior UN Headquarters
17 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press room dais
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Martin Bauer, Director, Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Service, World Food Programme (WFP):
“In the highest level of concern there is Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, Palestine, Nigeria and Somalia. These are countries where populations are facing or at risk of facing high levels of acute food insecurity, including starvation and death. The other tier is a very high level of concern. That's Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti. The remaining hotspots include Lebanon, Madagascar, Mali and Myanmar. These are countries that require close monitoring and urgent action as the situation could deteriorate.”
4. Wide shot, press room dais
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Martin Bauer, Director, Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Service, World Food Programme (WFP):
“In many hotspots and including the countries I mentioned, overlapping conflict, climate and macroeconomic shocks - including the spill-overs from the Middle East conflict that you're just discussed during this briefing - the potential effects of the El Niño - which you did not discuss, but which we'll get into more detail about - they all amplify food insecurity that this is a risk we highlight in this report. Conflict and violence remains the primary driver. And that's the case for 12 of the 13 hotspots identified in this report. And every hotspot of highest concern is a place affected by conflict and violence. And conflict destroys livelihoods. It forces people to leave. It disrupts markets, damages infrastructure and restricts humanitarian access. So that's really the number one cause.”
6. Wide shot, press room dais
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rein Paulsen, Director, Office of Emergencies and Resilience, Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO):
“When it comes to funding for food security activities, those funding levels in 2025 dropped to a level that was last seen in the period 2016 and 2017. At the same time, during that same period from 2016 through 2025, the percentage and share of the population analysed as being in acute food insecurity, by acute food insecurity, has doubled during that same period. So, significant funding reduction, a doubling of that of acute food insecurity at high levels during that same period.”
8. Wide shot, press room dais
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Rein Paulsen, Director, Office of Emergencies and Resilience, Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO):
“Impossible choices within already hyper prioritised plans have to be made. And at the same time, we're having to make, cuts to assessments, cuts to our monitoring and analytical capabilities, all of which are weakening the evidence base that's needed precisely to be able to prioritise assistance and to guide decision making. And this is a major risk, without reliable data, vulnerable communities become invisible.”
10. Wide shot, press room dais
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Rein Paulsen, Director, Office of Emergencies and Resilience, Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO):
“The worst outcomes that you see described in this report are not inevitable. They are foreseeable and therefore they are preventable. But the window to act is narrowing, which is why the issuance of this report and action in response to it is so important.”
12. Wide shot, end of presser
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today (17 Jun) warned that acute food insecurity is expected to worsen further for millions of people across 13 countries deemed “hunger hotspots” between June and November 2026.
Briefing reporters in New York by video teleconference, the Director of the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Service, Jean-Martin Bauer, said Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, Palestine, Nigeria and Somalia are at the highest level of concern as “these are countries where populations are facing or at risk of facing high levels of acute food insecurity, including starvation and death.”
At a very high level of concern, Bauer continued, are Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti, while Lebanon, Madagascar, Mali and Myanmar are included as “countries that require close monitoring and urgent action as the situation could deteriorate.”
The WFP official said in many of these hotspots “overlapping conflict, climate and macroeconomic shocks - including the spillovers from the Middle East conflict,” added to the potential effects of the El Niño, “all amplify food insecurity.”
He stressed that “every hotspot of highest concern is a place affected by conflict and violence. And conflict destroys livelihoods. It forces people to leave. It disrupts markets, damages infrastructure and restricts humanitarian access.”
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Director at the Office of Emergencies and Resilience, Rein Paulsen, told reporters that “funding levels in 2025 dropped to a level that was last seen in the period 2016 and 2017. At the same time, during that same period from 2016 through 2025, the percentage and share of the population analysed as being in acute food insecurity, by acute food insecurity, has doubled during that same period.”
Paulsen said, “impossible choices within already hyper prioritised plans have to be made. And at the same time, we're having to make, cuts to assessments, cuts to our monitoring and analytical capabilities, all of which are weakening the evidence base that's needed precisely to be able to prioritise assistance and to guide decision making. And this is a major risk, without reliable data, vulnerable communities become invisible.”
He told reporters, “the worst outcomes that you see described in this report are not inevitable. They are foreseeable and therefore they are preventable. But the window to act is narrowing, which is why the issuance of this report and action in response to it is so important.”
The latest edition of the Hunger Hotspots report, released twice a year through the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC), identifies Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen and Palestine as the world's most critical hunger hotspots in terms of severity and magnitude of hunger. Northeast Nigeria has been added to the list of highest concern, following projections indicating that populations in Borno State may face Catastrophe levels of acute food insecurity (defined as an extreme lack of food / other basic needs, with starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels evident) during the upcoming period covered by the report. Somalia has also been placed in this category with populations in the Bay region of Burhakaba District facing a risk of Famine.
Armed conflict and violence remain the primary drivers of acute food insecurity, affecting 12 of the 13 hotspots.
These pressures are compounded by economic shocks, severe funding shortfalls and growing risks linked to a forecast El Niño event, which is expected to bring uneven rainfall, droughts, and flooding across countries with already high vulnerability.
Funding for food assistance, emergency agricultural assistance and nutrition in food crises has declined by an estimated 59 percent between 2022 and 2025, returning to levels last seen nearly a decade ago. At the same time, the number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity in these countries has risen to around 266 million.
