Washington, D.C. – The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) relaunched its website Tuesday, coinciding with the release of an updated analysis on global acute food insecurity.
Following a brief pause in services during a review of U.S. foreign assistance programs, FEWS NET has resumed operations and published a new Global Food Security Update with analysis through September 2025. The FEWS NET program will reinstate its regular reporting cycle and restore full geographic coverage in the coming months.
“We are pleased to announce that FEWS NET is resuming its critical mandate of forecasting life-threatening food crises around the world,” FEWS NET spokesperson Hannah Button said. “FEWS NET was established as part of America’s response to famine in East and West Africa in the 1980s, and its strength came from connecting emerging satellite technologies to a deep local understanding of people’s livelihoods and the types of hazards that increase the risks of hunger. FEWS NET will continue to integrate cutting-edge data and space-based technologies with local human knowledge, in partnership with governments, NGOs, regional institutions, and the private sector. This defines our gold-standard approach to forecasting food crises and providing decision makers with the information they need to save lives, enhance human security, and support prosperity.”
In its June 2025 Global Food Security Update, FEWS NET warns of worsening hunger in conflict-affected areas of several regions. In East Africa, heightened insecurity remains a key driver of acute food insecurity in South Sudan, northern Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan, where extreme hunger and high levels of acute malnutrition and hunger-related deaths are likely ongoing in areas of North Darfur and Khartoum. A combination of conflict and drought are impacting food security outcomes for refugee and internally displaced populations in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, and Burundi. In the Middle East and Afghanistan, food assistance needs remain high across the region, with Gaza experiencing the most extreme outcomes amid mass starvation and hunger-related deaths. In West Africa, conflict, insecurity, and localized weather shocks are expected to drive increased food assistance needs, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria’s North East region, as violent extremist organizations continue their push to the Atlantic coast. Conflict has significantly disrupted agricultural and economic activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province. In Haiti, gang violence continues to drive mass displacement, heavily disrupting economic activity and significantly impeding household access to food. Hunger is expected to worsen in Central America’s Dry Corridor and Venezuela from June to September.
In several regions, violent conflicts are disrupting agricultural production, severing trade routes, and limiting humanitarian access. FEWS NET analysts continue to closely monitor ongoing conflicts to assess impacts on global food systems and localized levels of acute food insecurity.
“The world is facing a historic surge in organized violence. As of 2024, there are more active state-based conflicts than at any time since 1946, with at least 11 ongoing wars and over 160,000 conflict-related deaths,” Senior Conflict Advisor Dr. Yehuda Magid said. “The geographic reach of violence has expanded sharply, with conflict now affecting 65 percent more global territory than just three years ago. Nearly one in eight people worldwide are exposed to political violence. This escalation reflects not only a rise in the number of conflicts, but also their intensity and civilian impact.”
While the war in Ukraine has severely reduced grain exports from one of the world’s key suppliers, other ongoing conflicts have triggered price spikes through blockades and infrastructure attacks, hitting low-income, import-dependent countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia the hardest.
“In an interconnected world, the global food system is increasingly vulnerable to the ripple effects of conflict. Responding to this challenge requires not just humanitarian aid, but conflict-sensitive development, market stabilization, and sustained diplomatic engagement to prevent future shocks,” Magid said.
Since its formation in 1985, FEWS NET has systematized its collection, analysis, and publication of data on a wide range of integrated factors that contribute to food insecurity – including local livelihoods, conflict, markets and trade systems, agroclimatology and weather, and more – allowing for cross-nationally comparable forecasts of life-threatening food crises that are grounded in local realities. The network’s deep expertise in these areas has positioned it to become a global leader in food security analysis. FEWS NET is currently the only global program that provides 8-month projections that inform humanitarian response planning, with monthly updates to ensure timely adjustments to deliveries.
“The return of FEWS NET sends an important message: It reminds the world that American foreign assistance is both generous and strategic,” Button said. “By providing governments and aid organizations with the data and analysis needed to anticipate and prepare for food shocks, we can all work together towards achieving the shared goal of reducing human suffering and promoting global stability.”
FEWS NET will continue to inform U.S. government decisions on how much food to purchase from American farmers and where it should be sent to alleviate the greatest suffering. In 2023, the U.S. purchased $2.1 billion in food from domestic farmers and ranchers – including sorghum, corn, beans, rice, and vegetable oil – to help more than 45 million people in need of emergency food and nutrition assistance across 35 countries.
Regular monthly food security reporting for all FEWS NET-monitored countries will resume in the coming months, beginning with the publication of Key Messages for select countries in July 2025. FEWS NET teams will also work to fill gaps in data collection that occurred during this year’s pause in services. Please check the FEWS NET website regularly for updates to our reporting and data offerings.
“As humanitarian assistance levels decline amid a rise in global insecurity, FEWS NET remains committed to our role as the leading global provider of acute food insecurity analysis,” Button said. “Our ability to leverage our decades of expertise to continuously improve forecasting accuracy and timeliness uniquely positions us to help inform humanitarian responses and government decision-making.”