Funding shortfall forces UN agency to halt food aid for 650,000 women and children in Ethiopia

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced Tuesday (22 April) it will suspend life-saving nutrition aid to 650,000 malnourished women and children in Ethiopia starting in May due to a severe funding shortfall.
The move comes amid warnings that 3.6 million of the most vulnerable people in the country could lose access to food assistance in the coming weeks without urgent financial support. “Hunger and malnutrition are on the rise in Ethiopia as ongoing conflict, regional instability, displacement, drought and economic shocks, leave millions without sufficient nutritious food,” the WFP has warned. The WFP said it faces a US$222 million gap in funding between April and September 2025, putting its entire response at risk. Aid for up to one million refugees, many fleeing regional conflicts, is also set to run out by June unless new funds are secured.
More than 10 million people are food insecure, including 3 million uprooted from their homes due to violence and extreme weather. Insecurity in the Amhara region, as well as drought forecasts in the Somali region, further threaten humanitarian access. Zlatan Milišić, WFP’s country director, warned that millions are “one shock away from falling into a catastrophe.” WFP had planned to reach two million mothers and children in 2025, but operations are now being scaled back. Without immediate donor intervention, the agency says hunger and malnutrition will escalate sharply in one of Africa’s most crisis-prone nations.