Famine & food crises: the mental health toll

An area is classified as in famine when at least 1 in 5 households face an extreme lack of food, at least 3 in 10 young children are acutely malnourished, and death rates pass a set level.

Because the bar is so high, families can be in extreme need even when their area isn’t classified as famine.

Phase 5 “Catastrophe” describes individual households in the most extreme situation. Families can be in catastrophe even if their wider area isn’t classified as in famine.

In 2025, 266 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity, almost 23% of the people analysed.

Behind each number is a family making hard choices every day to keep going.

The UN Secretary-General calls conflict the primary driver of acute food insecurity and malnutrition. Fighting disrupts farming, markets, aid and safe movement.

War, conflict & displacement covers the wider mental health effects of war.

Rising food, energy and transport costs push families who were just getting by into crisis.

In 2025, 2.69 billion people worldwide could not afford a healthy diet.

Climate variability and extreme weather are a major driver of food crises.

Leaving home because of climate & disasters covers families forced to move by drought or floods.

More than 85 million people were forced from their homes across food-crisis countries. Displaced families often lose land, animals, work and community all at once.

In a well-known study, healthy volunteers who ate far less for months became tired, irritable and apathetic, with low mood and poor concentration.

These are the body’s responses to too little food, not signs of weakness. Hunger, food insecurity & mental health explains more.

A review of studies in West Africa linked food insecurity and famine to worry, anxiety, sleeplessness and emotional distress. One study found women were more affected than men.

People may grieve family members, animals, land and a whole way of life. Losing the ability to provide can hurt as much as hunger itself.

Grief in these settings is often shared by an entire community, which can be both heavy and comforting.

WHO estimates that about 1 in 5 people who have lived through war or conflict in the past 10 years have a mental health condition.

WHO also notes that most people’s distress improves over time, and that community support and psychological first aid help.

During the 2022 drought in the Horn of Africa, the number of children at risk of dropping out of school in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia tripled within three months, UNICEF reported.

Children may leave school to fetch water, find food, work or care for siblings.

UNICEF found that child marriage more than doubled in one year in the hardest-hit areas of Ethiopia during the drought, as families struggled to feed everyone.

Keeping girls in school and supporting family incomes are among the ways communities protect them.

WHO’s guidance for treating children with acute malnutrition includes psychosocial support and play-based stimulation, and support for caregivers too.

Malnutrition, children & the developing brain explains how food, love and play work together.

Researchers studying China’s 1959–61 famine found that people exposed before birth had about twice the risk of a serious mental health condition, schizophrenia, later in life. This matched earlier findings from the Dutch “Hunger Winter” of World War II.

Most people exposed did not develop this condition. Risk is not destiny.

Families who lived through famine may carry memories, habits around food and deep resilience. Generational trauma: understanding it explains how both pain and strength pass down.

In Jamaica, stunted toddlers whose families got weekly play-and-parenting visits caught up with their peers in adult earnings 20 years later.

WHO notes that emergencies have also become chances to build better mental health care, as in Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami.

In Sudan, youth-led Emergency Response Rooms formed after the war began in 2023. In one North Darfur camp, volunteers ran a kitchen around the clock, feeding more than 46 shelters.

They also bring water, help the injured and support families after floods, often where outside aid can’t reach.

Many cultures have strong traditions of sharing food with neighbors and strangers. In hard times, these traditions help people survive and keep their dignity.

Faith communities often organize food sharing, mourning rituals and emotional support. Meaning and belonging help people carry what they can’t change.

WHO recommends strengthening community self-help and social support in emergencies, and training frontline workers in psychological first aid.

Many people in the diaspora feel guilty at meals. Your going without would not feed them. Caring for your own health keeps you able to help.

Phone and internet links often fail in crises. Not hearing from family can bring waves of fear.

Ideas

• Agree on check-in times when you can
• Lean on others from your community who understand
• Plan something calming for while you wait
• Share news with a few trusted people, not everyone

Sending money, organizing or advocating can feel meaningful, but also exhausting. Decide what you can give regularly, and share the load with others.

War, conflict & displacement and Supporting someone from far away have more ideas.

Ideas

• Avoid news right before bed
• Check news once or twice a day, not constantly
• Pick a few trusted sources
• Turn off autoplay for videos

Turning feelings into action can help: giving to an established humanitarian group, volunteering locally, or learning more. Small, regular actions are more sustainable than one big burst.

After a long time of seeing suffering, the mind may go numb to protect itself. Rest and time away help your caring come back.

Climate anxiety & eco-grief has more ideas for coping with big world worries.

Sudan’s volunteer kitchens have been forced to close at times when funding ran out, leaving volunteers unable to feed people who depend on them.

Helping while facing the same hardship is a heavy double load. Rest and support are not luxuries.

Seeing hunger and loss day after day can affect helpers’ sleep, mood and sense of hope. Vicarious trauma & secondary traumatic stress explains signs and ways to cope.

WHO supports training frontline workers in psychological first aid: practical and emotional support for people in acute distress.

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. Calls with interpreters are offered in more than 240 languages.

Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741.

If a life is in danger, call 911.

Resettlement agencies, community groups and clinics can help with food, health and emotional support. Refugee resettlement: rebuilding a life lists more support.

For food help, dial 2-1-1 or visit 211.org.

In crisis settings, health clinics, community health workers and aid organizations may offer psychological first aid and support.

findahelpline.com lists free, confidential helplines in many countries, by phone, text or chat.