Global Progress Undermined by Sharp Declines in Afghanistan, Congo, Myanmar, and Zimbabwe, Report Finds

Ten countries account for two-thirds of the world’s most severe hunger, according to a U.N.-backed report released April 24, 2026, with crises in Afghanistan, Congo, Myanmar, and Zimbabwe reversing modest gains seen elsewhere like Bangladesh and Syria, highlighting a persistent global failure to address root causes of food insecurity despite humanitarian aid flows.

The Hunger Map: Where Progress Unravels

The latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, jointly issued by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, reveals that while Bangladesh reduced severe hunger by 18% between 2022 and 2025 through targeted agricultural subsidies and Syria saw modest improvements due to stabilized grain corridors, these advances were nearly erased by catastrophic declines in four conflict-affected nations. In Afghanistan, over 15 million people — nearly 40% of the population — now face acute food insecurity following the 2023 banking collapse and ongoing restrictions on female aid workers, which slashed UN food distribution efficiency by 34% in eastern provinces. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern provinces, particularly Ituri and North Kivu, have seen hunger rates surge to 62% among displaced persons as M23 rebel advances disrupted 2024’s harvest cycle and contaminated water sources near Goma. Myanmar’s Rakhine State, where Rohingya populations remain confined to camps, reported a 29% increase in child wasting since the junta’s 2024 rice export ban, while Zimbabwe’s maize harvest fell to 450,000 metric tons in 2025 — less than half the 2020 yield — due to El Niño droughts compounded by currency instability that pushed fertilizer costs beyond reach for 70% of smallholder farmers.

Local Systems Under Strain

In Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, municipal clinics reported a 41% year-on-year increase in severe malnutrition cases among children under five in the first quarter of 2026, overwhelming existing supplemental feeding programs. City health officials cite broken supply chains for ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF) as a critical bottleneck, with imports delayed by foreign exchange shortages. “We’re treating symptoms while the system that prevents starvation is fractured,” said Dr. Tendai Moyo, Harare’s Director of Nutrition Services, in a recent interview.

“Without reliable access to hard currency for importing nutritional supplements and repairing rural grain silos, our clinics become mere triage points for irreversible damage.”

Similarly, in Kabul, Afghanistan, the collapse of informal banking networks — known locally as hawalas — has severed remittance lifelines that once supplied 30% of urban household food budgets, pushing families toward negative coping mechanisms like selling assets or reducing meal frequency. Community leaders in Kandahar report that local shuras (councils) are now negotiating directly with Taliban authorities to permit female nutrition workers access to distribution points, a fragile workaround hampered by inconsistent policy enforcement across provinces.

The Aid Paradox: Why Food Insecurity Persists

Global humanitarian funding for food assistance reached $14.2 billion in 2025 — the highest ever recorded — yet structural gaps undermine impact. A World Bank analysis found that only 22% of emergency food aid in conflict zones undergoes local procurement, meaning most funds flow back to donor-country agribusinesses rather than stimulating regional markets. In contrast, Bangladesh’s success stemmed from its 2021 National Agricultural Technology Project, which redirected 65% of subsidies directly to smallholder farmers via digital vouchers redeemable at local seed shops, boosting rice yields by 11% in participating districts. Experts argue that replicating such models requires overcoming three barriers: fragmented land tenure systems in customary law areas (particularly in Congo’s Kivu provinces), lack of rural banking infrastructure to disburse agricultural credit, and export restrictions that disincentivize surplus production. “Food security isn’t grown in donor warehouses — it’s cultivated in local soil with access to credit, seeds, and stable markets,” noted Dr. Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General, during the 2026 Spring Meetings.

“Until we treat smallholder farmers as economic agents rather than passive beneficiaries, aid will remain a bandage on a hemorrhage.”

Building Resilience: What Works on the Ground

Long-term solutions demand strengthening the remarkably systems that fail during crises. In Zimbabwe, farmer cooperatives in Manicaland Province have begun using blockchain-based supply chain platforms to track grain deliveries from field to mill, reducing post-harvest losses by 19% and improving transparency for buyers. These initiatives rely on partnerships with agricultural technology providers that offer offline-capable apps for regions with intermittent connectivity. Meanwhile, in Myanmar’s Shan State, ethnic-administered health departments are training traditional birth attendants to screen for maternal malnutrition using mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) tapes — a low-cost intervention that increased referrals to feeding programs by 33% in pilot townships. Scaling such efforts requires engagement with community health nonprofits experienced in navigating complex authorization landscapes in conflict-affected areas, as well as human rights law firms that can advocate for humanitarian access corridors under international humanitarian law.

The hunger crisis is not a shortage of food — it’s a breakdown in the systems that move food from where it’s grown to where it’s needed. As climate volatility intensifies and conflicts endure, the directory of verified professionals who can rebuild local agricultural finance, repair supply chain trust, and navigate access negotiations becomes not just useful, but essential. For organizations seeking to move beyond emergency response toward lasting resilience, the World Today News Directory connects you with the agronomists, logistics experts, and advocacy specialists already implementing solutions in the world’s most fragile food systems.