War-torn Myanmar’s Rakhine State has been facing a huge hunger crisis, with the World Food Programme (WFP) warning of a rising “full-blown disaster” unless donations increase.
Aid agencies revealed that the situation has worsened dramatically following a military blockade, leaving communities cut off from essential supplies.
Displaced Communities
Rakhine is home to over 140,000 Rohingya Muslims displaced since communal violence in 2012. The 2021 military coup plunged Myanmar into civil war, crippling the economy and triggering widespread humanitarian needs, but conditions in Rakhine are reported to be far more dire.
In April, a father in Ohn Taw Kyi camp took his own life by ingesting insecticide after his family went without food. In June, an ethnic Rakhine family of five in Sittwe reportedly died in the same way. Just last week, an elderly couple displaced by recent fighting between the military and the Arakan Army were found dead in a suspected suicide over hunger and financial despair.
According to WFP, global funding for its operations has dropped 60 per cent from 2024 levels, forcing it to cut food aid in March despite a surge in families unable to support themselves. Currently, the agency can reach only 20 per cent of Myanmar’s severely food-insecure population.
“People are trapped in a vicious cycle, cut off by conflict, stripped of livelihoods, and left with no humanitarian safety net,” said Michael Dunford, WFP’s Myanmar representative, adding, “We are hearing heartbreaking stories of children crying from hunger and mothers skipping meals. Families cannot survive this alone.”
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