Armed conflict, mass displacement and repeated flooding have destroyed farms, disrupted markets and forced millions of families to depend on humanitarian assistance.
Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) followed closely, each with 25.6 million people affected in each, while Ethiopia had 22 million people struggling to secure nutritional security, showed the data in the report by Action Against Hunger.
Insecurity remains a major barrier, limiting access for aid agencies and leaving many communities cut off from essential support. The nutrition situation is particularly alarming. In Nigeria, more than 5.4 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition, including 3.6 million who are severely malnourished and at immediate risk of death without therapeutic treatment.
Health systems in many conflict-affected areas have collapsed, while the lack of clean water, sanitation and hygiene services has further increased vulnerability to disease and hunger.
At the same time, humanitarian operations are under growing strain. Drastic cuts in international funding, combined with customs delays, administrative hurdles and insecurity, have disrupted supply chains. This has slowed the delivery of life-saving assistance, including food aid and ready-to-use therapeutic foods, to children and families who need them most.
Continental crisis
Nigeria’s food crisis is part of a wider pattern playing out across Africa. In Sudan, civil war has pushed the country into one of the world’s worst hunger emergencies, with famine already declared in parts of Darfur.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, decades of conflict and weak governance have left millions hungry, despite the country’s vast natural resources.
