Tag: Action Against Hunger

Micronutrient Forum Conference: Vitamins and Minerals in the Changing Environment

October 8, 2026    Nutrition specialists gathering in Accra last week returned to a recurring challenge: how to translate evidence on preventing malnutrition into policies and programs that reach people at scale.   Several thousand nutrition and aid specialists participated in person and online in the Micronutrient Forum’s 7th Global Conference, held in Accra, Ghana, from September 28 to October 1.     With the theme “Nutrition at the Frontiers of a Changing Environment,” the conference brought together research, policy, and program experience across nutrition, food systems, climate, and development.

Presentations examined climate-resilient, nutrient-rich crop varieties; improvements in food storage and processing; and innovative financing. Across these topics, speakers emphasized the importance of political leadership, sustained investment, and coordination.

Presenter Ziauddin Hyder reflected on the event:

“Ending malnutrition requires more than isolated projects. It demands strong political leadership, sustainable domestic financing, and coordinated action across sectors. Bangladesh is committed to transforming this vision into action by integrating nutrition into primary health care and ensuring that multisectoral investments converge to improve maternal and child nutrition.”

Participants included Action Against Hunger, World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, the Hunger Project, GAIN, Population Action International, AGRA, iDE, UNICEF, IFPRI, FAO, WFP and the Ghanaian Government.  Private sector participants included BioAnalyt Gmbh, Hexagon Nutrition, and Particles for Humanity.  A number of presentations were by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) or IFPRI. The Government of Ghana, the African Union (AU), and the African Development Bank (AfDB) were major participants as well.

Dr. Saskia Osendarp, who is Executive Director of the Micronutrient Forum, called on the international community to not only take stock of progress but also translate evidence into actionable recommendations for research, policy, and programs, while building on and celebrating African leadership in nutrition.

Presentations covered a wide range of recent progress in battling malnutrition, spanning climate change, behavior change, processed foods, testing for deficiencies, fortification, nutrient supplements and funding.

FORTIFICATION

A widely echoed takeaway from the forum was the growing body of evidence on what works: across diverse contexts, food fortification emerged as one of the most cost-effective and impactful public health interventions, especially when implemented with mandatory legislation.

The Food Fortification Initiative presented a systematic review about the effectiveness of large-scale food fortification across 10 fortification vehicles, plus reviews on milk fortification, fortified soy/fish sauce, the impact of mandatory folic acid fortification on neural tube defects, congenital heart defects, and clefts, folate status, methods for estimating fortified-food coverage, integration of fortification into food systems, and a new rapid spot assay for zinc in fortified grains.

The ten-person CRS delegation concluded that: “We know what works. Now is the time to scale it,” supported by abstracts from their fortification work in Madagascar, Niger, and Ghana.  CRS highlighted how its fortification programming in West Africa,  built with governments, regional institutions, the private sector, and civil society, has strengthened policy frameworks, regulatory monitoring, quality assurance, and compliance, improving access to micronutrient-rich foods “for millions of vulnerable populations.”

Gaps in Compliance:  Research from countries like Bangladesh and Nigeria revealed significant compliance gaps, particularly highlighting the disparity between branded and unbranded staple foods (like edible oil and salt). Experts noted that markets frequently fail to deliver adequately fortified foods to consumers due to these blind spots.  From Cambodia, a 2023 cross-sectional assessment of vendors in about 150 public rural primary schools, related to unhealthy school foods found that 98% of vendors said they knew the directive, and most could identify sugary and energy drinks as prohibited.  Yet, that awareness did not change what was sold.

A rapid zinc test may make food-fortification monitoring much easier.  The Food Fortification Initiative featured an abstract about developing and validating a qualitative spot assay for zinc in fortified cereals. The associated method uses xylenol orange, which produces pink or purple spots when added zinc is present in refined wheat flour or fortified white rice. Testing takes only 10–15 minutes, excluding reagent preparation.  This gives millers and inspectors a relatively inexpensive screening tool for checking whether zinc was added. It detects presence, however, rather than establishing that the food contains the legally required concentration.

GAIN’s contributions included Svenja Jungjohann’s presentations on discrepancies between market assessments and household exposure in Bangladesh, and compliance gaps in branded and unbranded oil and salt in Bangladesh and Nigeria. Annette Mongina Nyangaresi presented implementation research about digital fortification-quality systems.

Latin America has been a historic pioneer in large-scale food fortification (vitamin A–fortified sugar in Guatemala, near-universal salt iodization, wheat flour fortification in 18 countries.  Rice fortification (already mandatory in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama, and being developed in the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Colombia) was flagged as an underused frontier.

SUPPLEMENTS FOR A WIDE RANGE OF VITAMINS AND MINERALS

There was a heavy push for expanding distribution of “multiple micronutrient supplements” (MMS) for pregnant women, with  48 countries now exploring or implementing it, noting that women prefer a full 180-day supply, which supports adherence.   Vitamin Angels, profiled earlier in Hunger Notes, presented about scaling up multiple micronutrient supplements, and Ghana’s phased rollout of Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) focused on evidence building and system preparedness.

Participants noted that supplement packaging is a sensitive part of nutritional efficacy: repackaging can reduce vitamin potency.

A poster looked at the effect of nutrition education on multiple micronutrient supplementation knowledge, attitudes, and practices among pregnant women in Abuja, Nigeria.  In selected antenatal clinics, structured nutrition education produced large gains: about 89% reached a good knowledge score and 81.6% a positive attitude toward use of multiple micronutrient inputs.

One session moderated by Jian Yan and Parul Christian of Johns Hopkins, addressed dose-response trials in undernourished women. A supplement’s nominal nutrient content does not by itself establish whether it corrects deficiency. Dose-response research seeks amounts that achieve adequate status without excessive exposure.

UNDERSTANDING MICRONUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES

UC Davis and Cambridge experts underscored that half the world has inadequate intake of at least one micronutrient, and biological stressors amplify these gaps.  Sight and Life  presented about anemia among women, noting that anemia is the #1 global cause of lost DALYs for adolescents 10–19,  University researchers emphasized that blood loss, infections, and genetic conditions are major contributors to anemia—often overshadowing simple iron deficiency narratives.  This has implications for screening, treatment protocols, and national anemia strategies.

Dr. Parmi Suchdev presented about “Micronutrients, inflammation, and life-course vulnerability,” explaining how systemic inflammation can change or obscure bio-markers of nutrient deficiencies.

CHILD NUTRITION

The Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) team presented key research highlighting maternal health and life-course vulnerabilities: Malnutrition is the main underlying cause in older children. It was the most frequent underlying cause among infants and children (20.8%), with sepsis and pneumonia more often the final event. An earlier analysis found malnutrition causal or significant in 39.5% of these deaths, 89.1% of which also had an infectious cause.

World Vision presented about father-to-father support groups which helped exclusive breastfeeding increase from 64.8% to 94.7%, while women meeting minimum dietary diversity increased from 11.2% to 54.9%.  WV also presented about strengthening RUTF supply chains for continuity of care of child wasting, with West Africa as their example.

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS

University scholars presented evidence that climate change is reducing the micronutrient content of staple crops.   Crop science experts showed that rising CO₂ levels and erratic rainfall patterns lower iron, zinc, and protein density in cereals.  At the same time, rapid dietary transitions in African cities are reducing micronutrient diversity, increasing reliance on processed foods, and stressing traditional food systems.

The AGRA Regional Director, Sunil Dahiya:  “Higher carbon dioxide levels reduce the zinc and iron in staples like rice and wheat. The bowl looks the same, but there is less nutrition in it.  ….The crop is changing.”

DATA AND LEARNING

Discussions emphasized the urgent need to improve the timeliness, availability, and sourcing of data feeding into the Global Fortification Data Exchange (GFDx) to help policymakers track scaling progress in real-time.

The Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) Project emphasized south-south learning between Asian and African cities, showcasing how urban areas can lead in addressing micronutrient deficiencies.

Action Against Hunger, PAI, CORE Group, FP2030, HMHB, and SUN’s Civil Society Network co-convened an October 2 follow-up gathering on linking nutrition, family planning, and maternal and child health.

Overall, the conference reinforced the need for a unified, evidence-based agenda linking nutrition directly to improved child health outcomes and survival rates.

Overall, the conference reinforced the need for a unified, evidence-based agenda linking nutrition directly to improved child health outcomes and survival rates.

FURTHER INFORMATION

In the future, presentations will be available at:  https://mnfconference.org/

The program is seen at:  https://booklet.kenes.com/export/mnf26

See also:  https://www.myjoyonline.com/measure-food-systems-progress-not-only-by-productivity-but-also-ability-to-deliver-healthy-diets-agra/

GAIN’s poster presentations and side event about business:  https://www.gainhealth.org/events/micronutrient-forum-7th-global-conference-mnf#gain-participation

AGRA’s presentation:  https://youtu.be/4SjNVlZyjb8

Food Fortification Initiative:  https://ffinetwork.org/micronutrient-forum-7th-global-conference/

IFPRI:  https://www.ifpri.org/event/ifpri-micronutrient-forum-7th-global-conference/

– Edited by Steven Hansch of the World Hunger Education Service

Most of Yemen is Now Hungry, UN Declares

June 17, 2026    Yesterday, the UN was advised that the extent of food insecurity in Yemen had ratcheted up further:  “The hunger crisis in Yemen is worsening sharply, with the share of people unable to meet basic food needs rising from about half to nearly 60 percent within a month,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher warned on Tuesday, calling for urgent funding to prevent further starvation.  “The number of Yemenis facing the most severe levels of deprivation has increased from one in four to nearly one in three. More than 18 million people, …are now experiencing acute hunger, ” Fletcher told the UN Security Council during a June 16 briefing.

Over 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished, including more than half a million in the severe, life-threatening form. Nearly half of all children under five suffer chronic malnutrition (stunting), locking in lifelong disadvantages for a generation. In hard-hit areas, half of households with young children report at least one malnourished child, while one in four has a malnourished pregnant or lactating woman.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification System (IPC) of famine predicts and projects a growing number of regions moving into Phase 4 — Emergency, shown in red in the map at right — for the period September to December 2026.  The Orange Zones are very food insecure and Red are emergency.

The 2026 Yemen Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan of the U.N. requested $2.16 billion for aid in order to reach 12 million of the 22.3 million people in need of assistance.  Yet, donor fatigue and competing global crises threaten another shortfall. Recent floods have destroyed displacement camps and livelihoods, while economic pressures and regional shipping tensions continue to inflate food and fuel prices. In government-controlled areas alone, nearly half the population now are now suffering crisis-level acute food insecurity, with emergency levels expected to climb through the lean season.The country’s arid climate, limited arable land, and chronic water scarcity have always constrained domestic production. Yemen has long depended on imports for over 90 percent of its food, especially wheat, of which it imports around 96 percent, leaving it acutely vulnerable to global price spikes, shipping disruptions, currency collapse, and fuel shortages that drive up transport costs.  War has only deepened this dependency.

The current civil war, fueled by Iranian support to Houthi rebels, has made humanitarian aid more difficult.  NGOs that had been building long-term food resilience for years had to shift to more short-term life-saving aid.  Damaged irrigation, lost livestock, displacement of farmers, and soaring input costs have left cereal production well below average. Even when commercial imports through Red Sea ports remain adequate in volume, economic collapse and rial devaluation put basic staples beyond reach for millions.

The chart at right comes from the CEOBS Report: Yemen’s agriculture in distress – ceobs.org

What is new and especially alarming in 2026 is the sharp contraction of the humanitarian response itself. In January, the World Food Programme announced it was terminating operations and contracts for its 365 staff in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen, home to roughly 70 percent of the country’s humanitarian needs—after repeated obstructions, arbitrary detentions of aid workers, and an increasingly impossible operating environment. This followed earlier suspensions and adds to chronic underfunding.  The 2025 appeal was only 29 percent funded, forcing agencies to scale back nutrition, health, and food programs nationwide.

Yemen’s food insecurity has deep roots, but the convergence of aid cutbacks, operational halts in the areas of greatest need, economic freefall, and climate shocks risks erasing fragile gains in nutrition and pushing more families beyond their breaking point.

Aid agencies helping to address malnutrition in Yemen include:  the International Committee of the Red Cross, Action Against Hunger, Save the Children, the International Rescue Committee, Médecins Sans Frontières, CARE, Norwegian Refugee Council, Danish Refugee Council, Oxfam, Islamic Relief, Medair and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency.  Relief International is working with WFP in food aid in the south of Yemen.  UNICEF coordinates much of the nutrition programming for children and mothers, and the U.N. Nutrition Cluster (led by UNICEF), which reports for 44 operational nutrition partners in Yemen.

Further information, see:  https://www.nutritioncluster.net/country/yemen

and https://fscluster.org/yemen

–  Contributed by WHES board member, Steven Hansch

 

Salud (Health) Everywhere, a Valuable Educational Site

June 9, 2026       Hunger Notes recommends students and practitioners to refer to and read the website “Salud Everywhere”, which is an expanding source about nutrition, humanitarian aid and health.

See:  https://saludeverywhere.com/en/health-in-humanitarian-crises/nutrition-in-humanitarian-action/

It has pages about world hunger, stunting, micronutrient deficiencies, low-birthweight and other key topics of relevance.  It provides a list of List of NotebookLMs (AI information) about humanitarian action and development cooperation.

Each page or section of the site is available both in Spanish and English languages.  It grows by the day.

The site’s author is Dr. Bruno Abarca, who also works for Action Against Hunger in Spain, and teaches Public Health in Complex Emergencies at the School of Public Health at George Washington University.

Suggestions for this site can be given here.

May 28 = World Hunger Day

May 28, 2026     May 28 was World Hunger day, inspiring many to take action to reduce malnutrition.  The overarching theme for this year’s global campaign is “The End of Hunger is in Our Hands”. 

The World Hunger Day initiative was founded in 2011 by The Hunger Project, a global non-profit organization established in 1977.

While many global awareness days focus heavily on immediate crisis relief and the distribution of emergency food aid, the original intent behind establishing World Hunger Day was to shift the global narrative toward sustainability and self-reliance.  Organizations like Islamic Relief have utilized today to issue a formal warning that the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of “Zero Hunger by 2030” is rapidly slipping out of reach due to localized aid funding cuts and war-related supply chain disruptions, particularly noting that humanitarian aid is currently meeting only a tiny fraction of the acute need in places like Somalia.

In South Africa, the day serves as the climax of a national week of mobilization organized by the Union Against Hunger (UAH), which declared May 25–30 as Food Justice Week.  International service networks, such as local Lions Clubs, are executing targeted community supply runs today, routing fresh fruits and vegetables directly to underfunded early-childhood crèches and community kitchens to combat localized child wasting and stunting.

The worst levels are concentrated in three bands:

  • * The Horn of Africa and East Africa – Somalia, South Sudan, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Sudan
  • *  Central and West Africa – Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Niger, Central African Republic, Nigeria, and Madagascar
  • *  Conflict hotspots outside Africa – Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, Haiti, and North Korea.

In Haiti:  nearly 277,000 children aged 6 to 59 months are facing or expected to face acute malnutrition.  In Kenya, the number of children aged 6 to 59 months requiring treatment for malnutrition between April 2025 and March 2026 is estimated to be 741,883.  In Ethiopia,~900,000 severely wasted children under 5 are estimated, nationally.

In the United States, food banks are feeling an intense squeeze. Daily living costs are so high that even families with full-time jobs are showing up at pantries just to make it to the end of the month.

The United Nations (UN) often sees significant legislative and health policy momentum occur in tandem with the day. For instance, the UN’s World Health Assembly (the decision-making body of the World Health Organization) regularly approves key nutrition-focused resolutions regarding persistent global stunting, wasting, and anemia around late May, intentionally capitalizing on the heightened public awareness surrounding World Hunger Day.

The UN’s 2025 Hunger Hotspots report flags the same places, naming Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, and South Sudan as the world’s most vulnerable, with 24.6 million Sudanese facing crisis-phase food insecurity.  Global hunger actually fell to 8.2% in 2024, but Africa and western Asia saw hunger rise.

World Vision cites 673 million people in the world facing hunger.

  • Action Against Hunger focuses heavily on treating and preventing acute malnutrition, often launching corporate and public partnerships on this day to fund nutritional programs.

  • World Vision & Compassion International utilize the day to run child-focused sponsorship campaigns, highlighting the specific impacts of food scarcity on early childhood development and maternal health.

  • Student resources for learning about world hunger can be found on this site, for instance:  https://www.worldhunger.org/lesson-plans-on-hunger-and-food-insecurity/
  • and https://www.worldhunger.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Understanding-Global-Hunger-Fact-Sheet-3-1.pdf

– Contributed by WHES board member, Steven Hansch

New Food for Peace Programming by the U.S. Department of Agriculture

May 24, 2026    BACKGROUND:   The primary way that the United States government, working with nonprofits, has fought hunger and malnutrition around the world has been through the U.S. Food for Peace program (originally Public Law 480, or PL 480), which began in 1954 and was expanded by President Kennedy in 1961, at which time it took on the name Food for Peace (FFP). Over seven decades, it has reached roughly 4 billion people in 150 countries through a mix of emergency relief and longer‑term development projects. Annual funding has typically ranged from $1.2–2 billion in recent years for the core Title II program (the main grant‑based humanitarian component), though overall international food assistance outlays have averaged $2–2.6 billion, fluctuating with global needs.

The structure and flow of resources for FFP begin with Congress, where appropriations come through agriculture and foreign operations bills. In its early history, most FFP aid went to “development,” but over time the balance has shifted toward emergencies. The main food commodities provided by the United States have been wheat, rice, sorghum, corn‑soy blends, beans, peas, lentils, vegetable oil, and ready‑to‑use supplemental foods. These are purchased competitively from U.S. farmers and producers and often bagged on ocean freighters bound for Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

RECENT ADMINISRATIVE SHIFTS:   After the Trump Administration dissolved USAID in 2025, FFP planning and administration moved temporarily to the State Department and then, in late 2025, to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with a strong “America First” focus on buying American‑grown foods. In December 2025, USDA and the U.S. Department of State signed an interagency agreement for USDA to take over FFP. USDA has long supervised other in‑kind international food aid programs, including the school‑feeding‑focused McGovern‑Dole Food for Education and the development‑focused Food for Progress (FFPr) programs, each delivered via partnerships with NGOs and the U.N. World Food Programme.

For many months it had been unclear how USDA would redesign FFP, how it would work with other organizations to deliver aid, and where. Then, in early May 2026, USDA announced a $350 million allocation of foods to WFP. In response, U.S. Wheat Associates announced that it “welcomes the announcement of the award of 20,000 metric tons (MT) (735,000 bushels) for emergency feeding programs under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) administration of the FFP program.”

NEW OFFERINGS

The new May 2026 Notice of Funding Opportunities published by USDA for NGO proposals sets out three reforms USDA has applied to the inherited portfolio:

  • *-100% U.S. origin for every commodity procured.
  • *-Strict traceability of every taxpayer dollar to guard against fraud, waste, and diversion.
  • *-“Offboarding and graduating” criteria, so that Title II funding “prioritizes emergency and in‑need geographies rather than forever‑aid countries.”

At present, the geographic scope has narrowed. NGO applications can only be submitted for seven countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, and Rwanda—a notable contraction from the broader Title II caseload USAID historically managed. Award sizes range from $20 million to $200 million, with USDA anticipating seven to fourteen awards out of $357 million in available federal funding, and a performance period of 18 to 24 months. The application submission deadline was June 12, 2026. Eligible applicants include public or private organizations, including intergovernmental organizations, language that explicitly keeps WFP and similar multilateral partners involved, while foreign governments are excluded.

With the large‑scale defunding of U.S. NGOs and other aid partners in 2025, intense competition for these new FFP program awards is expected.  NGOs such as CARE, CRS, World Vision, Mercy Corps, Save the Children and Action Against Hunger applied for FFP grants.

At the same time, USDA is layering the program on top of its existing Food for Progress (FFPr) framework. Separate from Title II FFP, the new FY26 Food for Progress solicitation to NGOs—released last week, closing July 6, 2026, with awards expected by late September—makes up to $226 million available across seven countries: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ecuador, Morocco, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, with awards of $28–35 million over four‑to‑five‑year performance periods. Food for Progress operates on a monetization model authorized under the Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. § 1736o) in which the USDA buys U.S. commodities domestically and ships them overseas, the NGO sells them in emerging markets, and the NGO uses the proceeds to fund agricultural development.  Monetization used to be standard as well for FFP programs particularly in the 1990s.

Both of these competitions for bids are concurrent with USDA funding opportunities for school feeding (McGovern‑Dole).

See also:  USDA:  https://www.fas.usda.gov/programs/food-peace

https://alliancetoendhunger.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/FINAL-FY27-ATEH-Senate-Agriculture-Appropriations-Letter-1.pdf

and:  https://www.devex.com/news/house-locks-food-for-peace-into-usda-with-50-commodity-requirement-112420

A primer from the Congressional Research Service here

Action Against Hunger 10 Global Hunger Hot Spots

May 6, 2026    This year, as in the past, the international aid agency “Action Against Hunger” (also known as ACF, or Action Contre la Faim) released their annual hunger report, titled “10 Global Hunger Hot Spots.”  This year the report describes a compound crisis model as causing hunger.  The compound crises are: conflict, displacement, climate shocks, inflation, market collapse, disease, and weak public institutions all stack on top of each other. Its real message is that famine is rarely just about food.  Rather, hunger is usually the endpoint of different social and economic crises.

Action Against Hunger estimates that 30 million children are acutely malnourished today, including about 8.5 million severely malnourished children, and at least 13 million pregnant or breastfeeding women are malnourished. That makes this as much a maternal-and-child survival crisis as a food-security crisis.

The report also makes an unusually strong argument that humanitarian access and humanitarian financing are now central determinants of mortality.

The report seeks to quantify the impact of global reducations in aid during the last year in various ways.  It highlights the 65% funding shortfall for hunger-related humanitarian programming and notes that the United States announced an 83% cut to humanitarian support, alongside cuts by several European donors. it explains the cascading effects of these cut-backs (e.g., 300+ nutrition centers closed in Afghanistan).  It cites the  Lancet-linked estimate that USAID-funded programs saved over 90 million lives over 20 years, warning that sustaining cuts through 2030 could lead to 14 million preventable deaths, including 4.5 million children under five. That is one of the report’s most consequential arguments.

It recommends:

  1.  Ensure full and safe humanitarian access of aid to needy people, and prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war;
  2.  Integrate climate and food security: 3. Focus on women and children.
  3.  Donor funds should be addequate, flexible and multi-sectoral
  4.  Support local and inclusive solutions
  5.  Strengthen prevention: Every strategy should include nutrition, food security, and access to basic health services, aiming to prevent hunger rather than just manage it.
  6.  Uphold adequate nutrition as a fundamental human right,
    ensuring that the right to food is respected and protecte

According to ACF, the top ten countries today in terms of total numbers of  people in acute food insecurity (at risk of hunger) are:

    • → Nigeria: 31.8 million:  “The nutritional crises are exacerbated by prolonged conflicts in the northeast of the country (Boko Haram and ISWAP), which make large areas virtually inaccessible to relief and food supplies, creating a vicious cycle of food insecurity and malnutrition.”
    • →  Sudan: 25.6 million:  “Sudan is facing the world’s most severe food and displacement crisis, but the scale of the suffering remains underestimated and underfunded.”
    • → The DRC: 25.6 million:  “This is not just a matter of a lack of funds: it is a matter of life and death.”
    • → Bangladesh: 23.6 million:  “Bangladesh faces recurring extreme weather events, demographic pressures, economic instability, and vulnerability of urban and rural infrastructure.”
    • → Ethiopia: 22 million
    • → Yemen: 16.7 million
    • → Afghanistan: 15.8 million
    • → Myanmar: 14.4 million
    • → Pakistan: 11.8 million
    • → Syria: 9.2 million

The report includes the map at right showing the countries where ACF, seen here.:

To assist journalists and researchers, the report has chapters by country. The country-specific “Inside Look” sections (written by Action Against Hunger directors) provide expert analysis on barriers like bureaucratic delays (Sudan), siege conditions (Gaza), or climate adaptation (Bangladesh).

For example:  “South Sudan continues to experience levels of malnutrition that reach emergency thresholds, with a steady downward trend each year. Local communities face multiple and interconnected crises, including the collapse of basic services, recurrent displacement due to conflict and flooding, and widespread food insecurity caused by climate shocks and economic
instability. In this context, the difficulties for humanitarian organizations are
multiplying…”

These chapters combine direct stories from affected communities (e.g., Zuwaira in Nigeria, Yasir in Sudan, Fatima in Afghanistan) and operational insights from Action Against Hunger’s country directors. These add emotional depth and ground-level reality to the statistics.

At the same time, the chapters include technical indicators such as population estimates, HDI rank, internally displaced persons, refugees, people in need, Humanitarian Response Plan funding requirements, HRP funding gaps, health-facility functionality, WASH access, cholera cases, food-price inflation, currency depreciation, hectares/crop losses from floods, and ACF operational outputs such as children treated for severe malnutrition, water points rehabilitated, cash assistance, and psychosocial support beneficiaries.

ACF (Action Against Hunger) has published many important publications for many years, such as “the Justice of Eating” shown here.  “The Justice of Eating – the Struggle For Food and Dignity in Recent Humanitarian Crises” was a 2007-08 Hunger Watch Report by Action Against Hunger.  It positioned the right to food as an essential human right and a matter of justice, not charity, arguing that failing to address hunger is a violation of human dignity.  The report, edited by Samuel Hauenstein Swan and Bapu Vaitla, documents the struggles for food access during humanitarian crises and emphasizes that fighting hunger is about upholding human dignity.

see:  https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/app/uploads/2026/01/2025_GlobalEmergencies_Map_v3-compressed.pdf

and:  https://www.actioncontrelafaim.org/

https://accioncontraelhambre.org/en

–  Contributed by WHES board member, Steven Hansch

Lebanon’s 2026 Conflict and Displacement Increase Malnutrition

April 8, 2026:    An estimated 1.65 million people in Lebanon are vulnerable to increased food shortages and malnutrition due to the combination of conflict, bombardment, displacement and denied access of food shipments. The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon has caused significant agricultural damage, estimated at $704 million, and disrupted livelihoods, especially for small-scale farmers.  However, aid agencies have not reported new rates of malnutrition from population-based surveys.

Pre-conflict, children in Lebanon were found to be 36% anemic from iron deficiency, with reduced dietary diversity and high rates of zinc and Vitamin A deficiency.

Daily military strikes and incursions continue, particularly in the south of Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, preventing people from returning home and resuming their livelihood.  People are sheltering in schools, public spaces, and even their cars, with many shelters already overcrowded. Hotspots include Baalbek, El Hermel, Akkar, Bent Jbeil, Marjaayoun, El Nabatieh, and Sour.  Seven bridges across the Litani River — a key transport corridor linking southern areas to the rest of the country — were struck as of late March 2026, disrupting supply routes for food, fuel, and medical goods.   Retail activity collapsed in conflict zones: only 15% of shops in El-Nabatieh and one-third in South Lebanon remained fully operational.   Markets south of the Litani River largely ceased operations, with many shops closed or evacuated and supply deliveries significantly reduced

More generally, Lebanese also have seen increases in the price of food, which has been affected by the regional conflict and constraints on fuel.  For example, the price of bread increased 8% at subsidized rates but 30% at many bakeries.  The Ministry of Economy increased the price of bread  by 5,000 Lebanese pounds due to rising fuel costs affecting oven operations and flour transportation.

International Aid

As needs have increased, the funding for aid has decreased. Food assistance coverage has dropped by about 45% between 2024 and 2025, forcing the WFP to reduce the number of people it assists by 40%.

Aid agencies that are responding with nutrition, food and health assistance include the Mennonite Central Committee, the Lebanese Red Cross, Action Against Hunger (AAH and ACF), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, UNICEF, CARE, Caritas, MedAir, and others.

A new digital platform called Sofra is coordinating an innovative response by connecting international donors with local restaurants to prepare and deliver meals to verified shelters. This initiative helps feed displaced families while supporting local businesses and keeping restaurant staff employed.

The Gap in Funding for Programs to Stop Hunger

The nonprofit, Action Against Hunger, February 22, 2023 released their global report “2023 Hunger Funding Gap Report — What’s Needed to Stop the Global Hunger Crisis.”

It reports that hunger is higher today than any time in recent decades, and that 50 million people are on the verge of famine.  The hungriest countries, it says, are Afghanistan, CAR, DRC, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Pakistan, Somalia and Sudan.  Conflict, climate and inflation are drivers of increased hunger.

  • Action Against Hunger observes that as hunger increases, funding to fight hunger has decreased (as a percentage of appeals).   “The world already has enough resources to meet the UN Global Goal of Zero Hunger by
    2030. It would take $4 billion to fully fund the hunger-related appeals of the 13 countries in this report.  … the world can’t afford to wait — particularly in the hunger hotspots featured in this report.”

In preparing the report, AAH reviewed UN humanitarian response plans, refugee response plans, flash appeals and the FAO’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system.

The report can be accessed or downloaded here.

 

-S Hansch, WHES Director