48 Million Face Starvation in Eastern Africa as Hunger Crisis Explodes

The United Nations has issued a stark warning that more than 48 million people across Eastern Africa will require emergency food assistance in 2026, marking a severe escalation of the region’s hunger crisis [196572]. UN officials say drought, conflict, and economic instability are driving the emergency, and they are calling for global donors to step up funding before conditions worsen [196572].

In a separate development, Tanzania is fighting a growing double burden of malnutrition, working to reduce undernutrition while also curbing rising cases of overweight, obesity, and diet-related diseases [197514]. The country has stepped up efforts to address both ends of the malnutrition spectrum simultaneously.

The United Nations has also launched a new plan to protect thousands of people in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria state from an approaching drought [194105]. The UN-backed effort focuses on early action to reduce the worst impacts of the coming dry spell before the crisis deepens [194105].

Meanwhile, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has warned that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now outpacing the response [192005]. While laboratory capacity has improved—health authorities can now conduct more than 2,000 Ebola tests daily across affected areas—the number of new infections is rising faster than health teams can contain them [192005]. The outbreak has also spread to two new provinces in Congo, and healthcare workers have started striking to protest unpaid wages, while burial teams have been attacked by local residents [196968]. A new vaccine candidate is offering hope for the future, but experts say immediate action is needed to prevent further spread [196968][192005].

The Africa CDC has also issued a separate warning urging authorities to strengthen safety measures for health workers responding to Ebola outbreaks [194368]. The agency stresses that without better equipment and training, efforts to contain the virus could be undermined [194368].

In Uganda, the government has warned that above-average temperatures could seriously impact food production, agricultural output, household incomes, and public health [196243].

Across the continent, African countries have secured $900 million in new funding to provide clean cooking technologies to millions of people, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said [191854]. The money will help replace polluting fuels like charcoal and firewood with cleaner alternatives such as ethanol, biogas, and electricity, reducing harmful indoor air pollution that causes about 850,000 premature deaths each year [191854]. The new pledges bring total commitments to more than $3.1 billion, building on $2.2 billion raised at the first Africa Clean Cooking Summit in Paris in 2024 [191854]. Nearly 1 billion people across Africa still lack access to clean cooking [191854].

The African Union has issued a rare and blunt statement acknowledging its own corruption problem, sparking debate across the continent about whether this is a genuine step toward reform or just another empty speech [194103]. The key question now is action, as past promises have often faded into silence [194103].

Political tensions are also rising in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where opposition leaders are demanding President Félix Tshisekedi’s resignation over proposed constitutional changes that critics say could allow him to run for a third term [193367]. Opposition groups have accused the president of undermining democracy and are calling for nationwide protests, though the government has not yet responded to the resignation demands [193367].