The worldwide hunger crisis has worsened due to Middle Eastern conflicts, making more youngsters susceptible to malnutrition and developmental problems and maybe endangering the future of a whole generation.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, a global alliance that analyses food insecurity, about 160 million people worldwide require immediate aid to prevent hunger.
The Global Report on Food Crises reveals that the main causes of hunger in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are the conflicts in Gaza and Sudan, even if economic unrest and climate extremes are among the leading reasons globally.
In an already climate-stressed region, these wars have exacerbated food insecurity for millions of people by causing mass migration, upsetting supply systems, and significantly reducing agricultural output.
In addition to increasing the likelihood of food shortages for more people in Yemen, Lebanon, and Syria, the fighting in Gaza has worsened the region’s climatic catastrophe.
A worsening picture
According to the World Food Programme’s most recent data, over 41 million people in the MENA region experienced severe food insecurity in 2024. Nearly half of these occurred in Sudan, where 24.6 million people suffer from acute malnutrition, with 8.1 million at risk of mass starvation and 638,000 living in famine conditions.
At least 10 million people have been displaced by the war between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, which began on April 15, 2023, making it the greatest internal displacement crisis in history.
Since the establishment of the international famine monitoring system twenty years ago, the IPC’s declaration of a famine in Sudan is just the third official famine determination. Somalia was previously classified in 2011, South Sudan in 2017, and South Sudan once more in 2020.
Timmo Gaasbeek, a food security specialist who has worked in Sudan, claims that the famine crisis in Sudan is disproportionately affecting children, as newborns and small children are frequently among the first to die from malnutrition and starvation.
Gaasbeek told Arab News that little children and the elderly are more susceptible than adults and will be more likely to die from various illnesses like malaria or diarrhoea.
“More people die from diseases to which their bodies are not immune during famines than from a shortage of food,” he said.
The World Food Programme estimates that as of November 2024, 4.7 million children under five and pregnant and lactating women in Sudan were experiencing acute malnutrition.
Death can also come from chronic hunger and malnutrition, even in places where famine has not been declared.
According to Gaasbeek, “If sustained for an extended period, even a 35% deficit in energy intake can be fatal. This level of hunger, or worse, is currently plaguing millions of people in Sudan.”
Sudan has been termed “the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis” due to the severe economic collapse, high food costs, weather extremes, and poor sanitation, which has led to a devastating cholera outbreak and widespread famine.
Zamzam, Abu Shouk, and Al-Salam in North Darfur were among the five regions where the IPC declared famine in December. By May, people may starve in five other parts of North Darfur, including the besieged Al-Fasher. Malnutrition at the famine level is a threat in 17 more regions.
A WFP assistance convoy took three months to reach the 500,000-person Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, the first region where famine was declared in August 2024, due to fighting, supply limitations, and other logistical difficulties.
The World Food Programme claimed in a statement at the time that “the combination of fighting around North Darfur’s capital Al-Fasher and impassable roads brought on by the rainy season from June to September severed incoming transport of food assistance for months.”
Access became possible only after Sudanese authorities agreed to temporarily open the Adre border crossing from Chad to Darfur until February 2025. However, the devastation of Sudanese agriculture has led to years of regression, making this relief seem insignificant.
At a food distribution in Bentiu, an internally displaced woman sits next to a World Food Programme truck. To reduce hunger-related mortality in Sudan, Gaasbeek estimated that approximately 800,000 tons of food aid will be needed in 2026 and 400,000 tons in 2027. This is only possible if the war is over by the time the next planting season begins in June 2025.
In Sudan, around two-thirds of the grain consumed is produced domestically, with the remaining third coming from commercial imports. However, the conflict and the economic collapse have an impact on those two factors.
“Food distribution is hampered by a number of logistical and financial issues, and consumers’ limited purchasing power means that commercial imports are currently at their peak,” Gaasbeek stated.
Businesses don’t have the resources to import more. This implies that increasing the import of food aid is the only thing that can change anything this year.
He calculates that approximately 6 million people may perish from starvation in 2025 if assistance supplies continue to be scarce.
“Food production and imports would stagnate if the conflict continues unabated or worse escalates further, necessitating extremely high levels of food aid to prevent mass starvation,” he added.
Although official statistics on hunger-related mortality in Sudan are unavailable, Gaasbeek calculates that approximately 500,000 individuals, or 1% of the population, perished from starvation and disease in 2024.
To help 20.9 million of the 30.4 million people in Sudan who are currently in dire need, the United Nations (UN) issued a $4.2 billion appeal for donations on January 6. Children make up over half of them.
The IPC’s findings that famine was now widespread in Sudan were rejected by the Sudanese government in December 2024, citing procedural and transparency issues as well as the failure to use up-to-date field data.
Gaza: Another problem area
About 90% of Gaza’s two million residents have been displaced by the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas, which started on October 7, 2023. The conflict has also resulted in severe food insecurity, with half of the population predicted to suffer from severe malnutrition.
The World Health Organisation believes that 75,000 people still live in the besieged northern Gaza region, where the Famine Review Committee warned of “imminent famine” on November 9.
Without regular access to food or medical care, many of the displaced are struggling with the bitterly cold winter months in filthy tents that are regularly inundated by torrential rains in south and central Gaza.
Israel established a blockade early in the battle, which significantly reduced the quantity of humanitarian aid that could enter. Since October 2024, northern Gaza has been subject to stricter restrictions as Israel steps up its efforts to rid the region of Hamas combatants.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs asserts that Israeli authorities made it possible for only two assistance convoys to reach northern Gaza in December, which made the hunger crisis worse.
According to the IPC, domestic food manufacturing has all but failed in Gaza, with almost 70% of the country’s agriculture fields devastated and stores, factories, and bakeries damaged or destroyed.
Food scarcity is primarily impacting vulnerable children, similar to the situation in Sudan. The WHO reported 32 malnutrition-related fatalities in June, including 28 in children under five.
The World Peace Foundation and Palestinian health officials, however, believe that the number of children who have died of starvation in Gaza is much greater than official figures.
According to UNICEF, over 96% of women and children in Gaza are unable to achieve their basic nutritional demands because they are forced to eat rationed wheat, lentils, pasta, and canned foods, a diet that gradually deteriorates their health.
The effects of starvation (like stunted growth, delayed puberty, weakened immunity, and increased risk of chronic diseases, vision, and hearing impairments) on a child’s development might be permanent.
Such situations may impact children’s cognitive and emotional development, potentially leading to a lower IQ and subpar academic achievement. Additionally, they have a higher risk of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, and depression.