The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) will suspend life-saving food assistance to 650,000 malnourished women and children in Ethiopia starting May 2025, due to a critical funding shortfall. The humanitarian agency warned on Tuesday that unless urgent funding is secured, up to 3.6 million people could lose access to food aid in the coming weeks.
In a stark announcement underscoring Ethiopia’s worsening humanitarian crisis, WFP Country Director Zlatan Milišić said the organisation has reached a breaking point in its operations.
“The situation has become untenable, and WFP has no other choice but to cut life-saving support,” Milišić stated.
Ethiopia remains one of the most vulnerable countries to food insecurity in Eastern Africa. According to the UN agency, more than 10 million Ethiopians are currently suffering from hunger and malnutrition, with women and children among the hardest hit.
The decision to suspend aid comes at a time when the country is grappling with a confluence of crises. Armed conflicts within Ethiopia and in neighboring countries such as Sudan and South Sudan have displaced more than one million people, exacerbating food insecurity and humanitarian needs.
WFP has also flagged the increasing threat of drought in the region, which could further escalate the scale of suffering unless immediate action is taken.
The suspension of aid is largely attributed to a lack of donor support. The United States, traditionally the WFP’s largest contributor, has drastically reduced its foreign aid budget under the administration of former President Donald Trump. Ethiopia, which had been the largest recipient of US aid in sub-Saharan Africa, received $1.8 billion in the 2023 fiscal year. However, those funds are no longer sufficient to cover the growing demands.
Other Western countries, particularly in Europe, have also implemented cuts to their international aid budgets, creating a ripple effect that has left global humanitarian efforts severely underfunded.
As a result, the WFP’s Ethiopia office reports a staggering funding gap of US$222 million needed to sustain its operations from April through September 2025.
“Millions of Ethiopians are one shock away from falling into a catastrophe,” Milišić warned. “We need a swift and generous donor response to ensure the country’s most vulnerable people get the assistance they need.”
The agency’s decision to cut aid affects some of the most critical nutrition programmes targeting pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as children under five who are at risk of stunting, wasting, and severe malnutrition.
Experts warn that the funding crisis could reverse hard-earned gains in combating food insecurity and child malnutrition in the region. Ethiopia has made significant strides in reducing hunger in the past decade, but the current shortfall threatens to undo years of progress.
The WFP also noted that its food pipeline is running dry, with no new contributions in sight. The organisation has had to make difficult choices about who receives food assistance, prioritizing only the most severely affected individuals and regions.
“We are now forced to take food away from the hungry to feed the starving,” said one senior WFP official, who described the current situation as “heartbreaking and morally devastating.”
Humanitarian agencies working alongside the WFP have called on the international community to step up and provide immediate financial support. Without timely intervention, aid workers warn that Ethiopia could plunge deeper into famine conditions, especially in regions already suffering from drought and conflict.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian government has acknowledged the shortfall and urged international donors not to abandon the country in its time of need. Authorities have also appealed to the African Union and other regional partners to mobilize support.
As the world turns its attention to other geopolitical crises, such as the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, aid agencies fear that Ethiopia’s worsening hunger crisis could be overshadowed and neglected.
According to humanitarian policy experts, the shrinking pool of global aid threatens not only Ethiopia but also other vulnerable nations in Africa and beyond.
“What we are witnessing is a systemic breakdown in the global humanitarian financing system,” said a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee. “If Ethiopia can fall off the radar, any country can.”
The WFP’s suspension of aid to 650,000 malnourished women and children is likely only the beginning. Without immediate and large-scale funding from donors, the agency has warned that additional cutbacks could soon follow, affecting millions more who rely on food assistance for survival.
For now, the message from humanitarian organisations is clear: the time to act is now.
