Nearly 50 million people facing hunger in West, Central Africa

A record 49.5 million people are expected to go hungry in West and Central Africa next year due to a combination of conflict, climate change and high food prices, the United Nations said on Tuesday (Dec 12).

A record 49.5 million people are expected to go hungry in West and Central Africa next year due to a combination of conflict, climate change and high food prices, the United Nations said on Tuesday (Dec 12).

The figure is 4 per cent higher than in 2023. In coastal countries, the number of people facing acute hunger is expected to reach 6.2 million in 2024, up 16 per cent from this year, according to a new regional food security analysis released by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and other humanitarian agencies.

"Acute hunger remains at record levels in the region, yet funding needed to respond is not keeping pace," said Margot Vandervelden, WFP's acting regional director for Western Africa.

"Insufficient funding means the moderately hungry will be forced to skip meals and consume less nutritious food, putting them at risk of falling back into crisis or emergency phases, perpetuating the cycle of hunger and malnutrition," she said.

More than two out of three households in West and Central Africa cannot afford healthy diets, the analysis found.