South Sudan is in the midst of a dire humanitarian crisis driven by years of conflict, political instability and recurring violence. Although the 2018 peace agreement helped reduce large-scale fighting, violence has continued in parts of the country, and in 2026 South Sudan faces a serious risk of renewed nationwide conflict amid escalating political tensions and a worsening security situation. The crisis has left an estimated 9.9 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, while severe funding shortfalls are further exacerbating the situation.
A new analysis from the World Food Programme (WFP), released on Wednesday, shows that the intensifying El Niño weather pattern is set to significantly worsen food insecurity in some of the world's most vulnerable countries into 2027. The United Nations agency is ramping up its preparedness and response efforts, as the impacts of El Niño are already being felt by those most vulnerable to hunger.
The ongoing political instability and armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, DRC) have devastated food production and distribution systems, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the non-governmental organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned today that extreme levels of violence, hunger, and displacement receive “scant funding, media apathy, and neglect”, as recent months have brought a dramatic deterioration in the situation in the eastern part of the country.
The Russian government’s decision to suspend participation in an agreement that allowed Ukrainian grain to be shipped through the Black Sea will significantly harm efforts to provide food to millions of people around the world facing food insecurity, activist groups warned on Monday. The agreement has ensured the safe passage of over 32 million metric tons of food commodities from Ukrainian ports.
Hunger has reached unprecedented levels in Haiti amid a deepening security crisis. Nearly five million people - almost half of the country's population - are now facing acute food insecurity, including more than 1.6 million people at the emergency level, according to an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released Friday. Meanwhile, gangs have extended their control and influence to more than 90 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned Wednesday about a “looming hunger catastrophe” in Sudan, where months of conflict, high food prices and lower crop yields have left an increasing number of people at emergency levels of hunger. According to latest IPC food security analysis released Tuesday, some 17.7 million people across Sudan face high levels of acute food insecurity, classified in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) or worse between October 2023 and February 2024.
Medical humanitarian assistance and support for health services are urgently needed in crises around the world. A UN agency and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) specialize in providing health care in humanitarian crises or in the urgent delivery of medicines to people affected by conflicts and disasters.
Nine years after the peace accord between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was signed, the humanitarian situation in Colombia is still marked by large scale internal displacement and insecurity due to armed violence, with 10.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2026. The country has endured more than half a century of intense armed conflict, perpetuated by widespread illegal drug production and trafficking and rooted in territorial control by armed groups. The increased impact of natural hazards related to climate change and the integration of 2.9 million Venezuelan refugees are also driving humanitarian needs in Colombia.
United States national Cindy McCain took over Wednesday as the new head of the World Food Programme (WFP). The new Executive Director said in her first statement that her priorities for the United Nations agency were increasing its resources, improving its effectiveness and scaling up partnerships and innovation.
United Nations agencies warn that South Sudan continues to face a severe food and nutrition crisis which threatens to worsen unless urgent humanitarian action is mounted. According to the latest food security report, over half of South Sudan's population — around 7.56 million people — will experience crisis-level or worse hunger during the lean season from April to July 2026 while, in the coming months, tens of thousands are at risk of famine.
The people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are experiencing one of the world's most complex and protracted humanitarian crises. In 2026, 18.5 million people in DRC require humanitarian assistance. The country also faces one of the world's most neglected displacement crises, with over 7.9 million women, children, and men forced to flee their homes. The humanitarian situation is marked by ongoing armed conflicts, massive displacement, climate shocks, and recurrent epidemics. Since May 2026, a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak puts even more lives at risk across multiple provinces.
According to a new report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Haiti has surged to an unprecedented level, with over 1.4 million people forced to flee their homes due to escalating gang violence and instability. This figure is up 36 percent since the end of 2024 and represents the highest number ever recorded in the country. Meanwhile, hunger in Haiti continues to worsen, with over half of the population — 5.7 million people — facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is urgently calling for $629.7 million to sustain and scale up life-saving assistance in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). The UN agency reported Tuesday that conditions for those housed in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have fled conflict in the provinces of Ituri, North and South Kivu have become dire with the advent of the rainy season.
Nearly 3 million children – the highest number on record – need humanitarian support in Haiti, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned Thursday. Children face staggering levels of violence that have exacerbated hunger and malnutrition in a country already mired in poverty and a resurgence of cholera. Meanwhile, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held a special meeting Friday on food insecurity in Haiti amid the rapidly deteriorating situation in the country.
The overall humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is marked by a protracted political crisis, characterized by 59 years of Israeli military occupation. In October 2023, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip deteriorated drastically following the start of a war by the Israeli military due to atrocities committed by Palestinian armed groups. For more than two years, an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is raging in Gaza, where civilians are dying from violence, lack of medical treatment, famine, disease, starvation, dehydration, and hypothermia. On October 10, 2025, a ceasefire between Israel and the armed group Hamas went into effect.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that severe disruptions to six of its most critical humanitarian operations are expected by the end of the year due to dwindling global funding, which could push millions into emergency levels of hunger and endanger the lives of millions of vulnerable people. This warning comes at a time when overall global humanitarian funding is drying up, with less than a quarter of this year's appeal being funded, and hunger reaching record highs.
Australia is home to several humanitarian organizations that provide life-saving assistance on the frontlines of the world's most severe humanitarian crises. DONARE has selected thirteen of the largest and most influential non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or aid networks. In addition to these prominent humanitarian organizations, there are many other well-respected charities, relief organizations and aid agencies in Australia that work both locally and internationally. Australians are known as generous donors to international relief efforts and charitable causes.
An additional one million children in Nigeria will suffer from acute malnutrition by April next year unless urgent action is taken, as extreme flooding, escalating violence and rampant food shortages fuel a deepening hunger crisis, the international humanitarian organization Save the Children warned on Tuesday. Nigeria is already the country with the highest absolute number of people facing severe acute food insecurity in the world.
Millions of children are threatened by humanitarian crises around the world. Many are at the center of wars, armed conflicts, persecution, natural disasters, and other complex crises. Children pay a high price for humanitarian crises. They have often experienced or witnessed acts of violence and are at risk of neglect, violence, abuse, exploitation, human trafficking, or military recruitment. Children's rights are under threat all over the world.
Funding constraints mean that the World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to limit emergency aid to only 6.2 million of the most vulnerable people in need across West Africa, scaling back from an initial target of assisting 11.6 million, the United Nations agency said on Wednesday. Millions in the Sahel will be stranded without aid as the lean season sets in and hunger starts to peak.
