New food alert platform helps humanitarians combat hunger

Bringing together data from more than 300 analysts and dozens of trusted partners - including government-validated statistics, hunger classification index the IPC, agricultural and economic data - the map provides the most complete and up-to-date picture of hunger facing the world's most vulnerable.

"It allows you, journalists, but also policymakers, students here in the room, to have your finger on the pulse of global food insecurity," the WFP's Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis, Jean Martin Bauer, told journalists at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The release of the platform comes at a critical time with limited funding for humanitarian action and the number of people facing the most severe form of hunger has increased 15-fold from 85,000 in 2019, to 1.4 million in 2025, according to the internationally-recognised hunger index, the IPC - which issues famine alerts.

Cost saving potential

Through predictive modelling, the map answers three critical questions: What is the current state of food security across the world? Which countries and regions require urgent attention? And what are the underlying factors contributing to food security needs?

Studies have shown that early warning of emerging food security issues can lead to tremendous cost savings and operational efficiencies. For every dollar invested in WFP's anticipatory action programs, a minimum of seven dollars is procured in savings.

"Without data, the fight against hunger is fought in the dark," WFP Executive Director, Cindy McCain, said, "this platform changes that...we're able to track and predict where, how and why hunger is growing, which means that we don't just respond to hunger - we get ahead of it."

AI-assisted forecasting

The map offers AI-assisted forecasting capabilities for projected food needs in WFP-designated Hunger Hotspots, 16 countries with populations already struggling with catastrophic hunger.

Another novel feature is the inclusion of "micronutrient intake adequacy," which links food-security conditions with the nutritional quality of diets.

This nutrition analysis, developed with support from the Gates Foundation, helps identify populations at risk of hidden hunger caused by inadequate intake of essential vitamins and minerals.

Stopping hunger in its tracks

Funding for global food security monitoring and analysis has been on an alarming decline with WFP's data footprint shrinking 25 percent in the past year.

"You can't stop hunger if you can't see it coming," Mr. Bauer added.

"That's why it's crucial that we keep funding the collection of this data, so that society has a trusted, evidence-based early warning system that can alert the world about emerging and alarming conditions, and the risk of human suffering, before it's too late."