Hunger surges in DRC's conflict-hit Eastern provinces yet funding gaps force WFP to scale back support

I am here to speak about the deepening hunger crisis that is unfolding in the eastern provinces of the country and the latest food security analysis report, the IPC, that was released a few days ago.

The numbers of people facing the emergency level of hunger is surging. It has almost doubled since last year. This has been driven by the various conflicts in the Eastern DRC - and demonstrates the impact of a major shift in the Eastern DRC context.

An area of the Switzerland has fallen under the defacto control of a non-state armed group - known as the M23 - which caused massive population movement, including large-scale forced returns as all displaced sites were broken up: people forced to return with nothing finding their houses destroyed, fields looted or farmed by others, and ongoing new displacement as the fighting continues.

In the eastern provinces, families have been forced from their homes over and over again: a total of 5.2 million people are displaced, including 1.6 million this year alone. This makes eastern DRC one of the world's largest displacement crises.

This is coupled with the major disruptions to markets, national services and systems - health, education and banking systems -with banks closed and no money available - in these areas. This has had a major impact on the population and the humanitarian response.

This has further devastated livelihoods and the food security of affected populations.

So, what does means in terms of the numbers and people in direct need of live-saving food assistance?

One in three people in DRC's eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, and Tanganyika are facing crisis levels of hunger or worse. That's over 10 million people

Of that, an alarming 3 million people are in emergency levels of hunger. What does this mean? It means families are regularly skipping meals, have depleted their household asset, selling off their last goats. This figure-has I said-has almost doubled since last year at this.

Malnutrition among children is also alarmingly high. In some areas, reports indicate that over 60 percent of children are malnourished.

I have seen for myself the difficult choices that women make trying to feed their children.

However, in spite of all of these challenges - including the poor roads, rainy season and many humanitarian access challenges - our teams on the ground in the east have reached over 3.4 million of the most vulnerable this year with emergency food assistance - both cash and in-kind food rations. We have supported almost 1 million malnourished children and mothers through our nutrition programmes in the most complex and challenging context.

But now as the hunger deepens, funds are running out and we will be able only to support a fraction of those in need.

Now, we have been forced to cut our live saving assistant to just 600,000 people per month from October-down from reaching over one million plus people per month.

WFP urgently needs US$349 million to continue delivering emergency food and nutrition assistance over the next six months.

Without it, we will be forced to make further cuts. As it stands, we are looking at a total pipeline break from February/March 2026. That means a complete halt of all emergency food assistance in the eastern provinces.

What else needed by the humanitarian community?

Improved humanitarian access.

The two airports in DRC's east - Goma and Bukavu airports - have been shut for months. WFP is urgently calling for a humanitarian airbridge to be established. Either for the partial re-opening of the airport of Goma for the resumption of humanitarian flights, or, if this is not possible, cross-border flights between eastern DRC and western Rwanda. This would improve the effectiveness of the response.

Behind these stark statistics that I have explained are children, women and men who everyday suffer the consequences of devastating levels of violence perpetrated by armed groups. They are tired and exhausted-and need peace.

Let me be clear. WFP is doing all we can, but we can do more and reach more people.

We are asking for support in one of the world's largest hunger crises. We are calling on donors, partners, and the international community to assist and help the people of DRC and bring in hope for millions.

Notes to Editors:

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification for DRC: https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1159775/?iso3=COD

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world's largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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