RESOURCES

KEY MESSAGES
In the Sudan, Famine (IPC Phase 5) is ongoing in the Zamzam Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) site near El Fasher, North Darfur, and is expected to persist through October 2024. Many other areas throughout the country are at risk of Famine but insufficient data inhibited analysis for many hard-to-reach areas. In total, 25.6 million people in the Sudan are estimated to face high levels of acute food insecurity during the June–September lean season – a 26 percent increase since the same period in 2023. The conflict has also had severe implications for regional food and nutrition security, with more than 2 million people forced to flee to neighbouring countries, mainly to major food-crisis countries including Chad and South Sudan.

The Gaza Strip (Palestine) remains the most severe food crisis in the history of the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), with all 2.2 million residents still in urgent need of food and livelihood assistance between March and April 2024. The severity of the crisis has intensified, with half of the population in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) during this period, up from a quarter in December 2023–February 2024. Although this was projected to decrease to 22 percent in June–September 2024 and available evidence did not indicate Famine (IPC Phase 5), the risk of Famine persists.

Better harvests and stabilizing economies drove improvements in food security in 16 countries. Afghanistan, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala and Lebanon all had at least 1 million fewer people facing high levels of acute food insecurity since the 2023 peak, but they remain major food crises.

Shocks, such as intensifying conflict, El Ninõ-induced drought and high domestic food prices drove worsening food crises in 18 countries by mid-2024. Nigeria, the Sudan, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Chad and Yemen all had at least 1 million more people facing high levels of acute food insecurity than during the 2023 peak.

Forced displacement of people in food-crisis countries/territories continues to increase, with alarming numbers of people in the Gaza Strip and the Sudan exposed to very high levels of acute food insecurity and malnutrition.

Acute malnutrition among children and women in food-crisis countries/territories is persistently high, especially in conflict-affected areas. The lack of affordability of a healthy diet is becoming an increasingly important driver.

Of the 14 countries without 2024 data, the Syrian Arab Republic was flagged by the latest FAO-WFP Hunger Hotspots report as being of very high concern between June and October of 2024.

Download the Global Report on Food Crises 2024 mid-year update