The humanitarian relief system, decimated by the dismantling of USAID, now faces a compounding crisis as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz doubles the price of food and fuel, leaving the World Food Programme able to reach only a fraction of the nearly 2 million people a month it was serving in early 2025, according to The New York Times.

The World Food Programme has halved emergency food assistance in Syria, cutting aid from 1.3 million people to 650,000  as funding shortages driven in part by U.S. foreign aid cuts leave 7.2 million Syrians acutely food insecure, Reuters reports.

The Council on Foreign Relations reports that the U.S. has spent roughly 510 times more on its war with Iran than on humanitarian aid since the conflict began, even as the WFP projects 45 million more people could face acute food insecurity.

The share of the global population facing food crises or worse has doubled over the past decade to nearly 23%, with 266 million people affected, according to The Independent. The U.S. drove three-quarters of a 23% decline in foreign aid from wealthy nations in 2025 — cutting its own contributions by 57% — leaving Germany as the world's largest donor.

Despite a landmark 2018 U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the deliberate starvation of civilians, food continues to be weaponized with near impunity, argues David Beasley, former World Food Programme director.

Afghanistan is experiencing the highest surge in child malnutrition ever recorded in the country, with U.S. aid cuts forcing the World Food Programme to turn away three in four of the 4 million acutely malnourished children who need treatment, the Washington Post reports.

The U.S. foreign aid freeze sent shock waves through agricultural research worldwide, with workers halting data collection in sorghum and peanut test plots across Africa, seed companies going unpaid, and research coordinators at more than a dozen U.S. universities laying off staff, Science magazine shows.

The dismantling of USAID has shuttered agricultural research labs and destabilized international crop science, with consequences likely to emerge decades from now. Scientists warn today’s cuts could fuel future food shortages and price spikes.

ProPublica investigates impacts after the Trump administration cut off food from the third-largest refugee camp in the world. Thousands of families faced impossible choices as their children starved. Here, the authors follow the story of Rose Natabo, who works tirelessly to keep her children alive even amid deep food insecurity caused by the cuts.

In northern Nigeria, organizations like the World Food Programme are scaling back aid or completely halting operations, Al Jazeera reports.

In the U.S. heartland, The New York Times tells how Kansas farmers once supplied grain for U.S. food-aid programs abroad. After those contracts were canceled, many are struggling to sell their crops and facing mounting financial losses

Rural life in Nepal is getting harder. Global Press Journal documents how farmers are struggling to adapt as development programs lose funding.

Millions of tons of food sat rotting in warehouses after U.S. funding was withdrawn, according to Reuters. Aid workers say the suspension has left entire regions without supplies.