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'300 million don’t know if they will eat next meal': Global aid leaders in Dubai
Assistant Executive Director of the WFP recalled meeting a mother in Somalia who walked for four days to reach a food distribution Centre, after burying two of her children along the way
- PUBLISHED: Tue 3 Feb 2026, 2:46 PM
- By:
- Arwa Almazrouei
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As global leaders gathered in Dubai to discuss the future of governance, innovation, and economic growth, one urgent issue cut through the optimism — the deepening global hunger crisis, particularly among children.
Speaking during a powerful session at the World Governments Summit, Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, and Rania Dagash-Kamara, Assistant Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), warned that hunger and malnutrition have reached alarming levels worldwide, despite the world having the tools to address them.
Turning statistics into human reality
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Russell stressed that large numbers often fail to convey the accurate scale of suffering. “Last year, we estimated that 14 million children were at severe risk of malnutrition,” she said. “That figure is hard to grasp, but it’s the equivalent of nearly half a million classrooms, each with 30 children.”
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She added that hundreds of millions of children are living in conflict zones or fleeing them, facing daily threats from hunger, disease, and displacement.
Describing visits to hospitals in countries such as Afghanistan and Yemen, Russell said severely malnourished babies often share a single bed, their bodies too weak even to cry. “At that stage, children are not resting,” she said. “They are simply trying to survive.”
300 million people don’t know if they will eat again
Dagash-Kamara brought the scale of the crisis into sharp focus with a simple question to the audience. “How many of you had breakfast this morning? And how many of you know you will have lunch?” she asked. “There are 300 million people in the world today who do not have that certainty.”
She explained that these people are not just hungry, but acutely hungry, living without any guarantee of their next meal.
Sharing stories from the field, Dagash-Kamara recalled meeting a mother in Somalia who walked for four days to reach a food distribution Centre, after burying two of her children along the way.
“This is the level of desperation we are facing,” she said.
Hunger rarely kills alone
Both speakers highlighted that starvation is often accompanied by disease, as malnutrition weakens the immune system. “People don’t usually die from hunger alone,” Dagash-Kamara said. “They die from the illnesses that come with it.”
Russell noted that solutions exist, such as ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), a peanut-based nutritional paste that can save severely malnourished children if it reaches them in time.
“We know how to save lives,” she said. “What we don’t always have is sufficient funding or access.”
Funding pressures amid growing needs
Despite escalating humanitarian crises, funding for aid organisations is declining, forcing them to make difficult decisions.
“The needs are increasing, while funding is being reduced,” Russell said, noting that many organisations have had to cut staff and scale back programs.
Both leaders stressed the importance of new partnerships, including collaboration with the private sector and digital creators, to expand reach and mobiles support.
Why storytellers matter in today’s world
With people spending more than five hours a day on their phones, Russell said content creators play a critical role in shaping public awareness.
“They know how to reach people where they are and make them stop and care,” she said.
Dagash-Kamara encouraged creators to support causes they genuinely believe in, warning against engagement driven solely by popularity. “Your credibility is your currency,” she said. “Choose an issue that feeds your soul, not just your following.”
School meals: A proven solution
Among the most effective interventions discussed was school feeding programmes, which Dagash-Kamara described as a long-term investment in children’s futures.
“A child who is well-fed can learn,” she said. “Yet in Sub-Saharan Africa, only one in 10 children can read a sentence at the age of 10.”
She shared the story of a young Syrian girl who saved half of her school sandwich to take home to her mother. “That sandwich was not just food,” she said. "It was survival."
A call to act from a global platform
With Ramadan approaching, Dagash-Kamara highlighted initiatives such as the "ShareTheMeal" app, which provides a meal for just 80 cents, urging families to involve children in acts of giving.
Russell concluded with a clear message from the World Governments Summit stage: “Every child deserves what we want for our own children: health, education, and a future. These challenges are not insurmountable. They require collective responsibility.”
Arwa Almazrouei is an Arabic editor passionate about storytelling and journalism, and creating impactful content that highlights culture, society, and the inspirational.
