Half a million refugees and the most vulnerable Cameroonians risk being cut off from humanitarian food assistance in the coming weeks as resources reach critically low levels, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.
Without urgent new funding, WFP will be forced to stop life-saving food assistance at the end of August to over 240,000 people who have escaped conflict in Cameroon.
Additionally, more than 200,000 children and mothers will lose vital nutrition support, and school meals for 60,000 children will stop, putting their health, education, and futures at risk.
“We have reached a critical tipping point,” said Gianluca Ferrera, WFP’s Country Director in Cameroon. “Without immediate funding, children will go hungry, families will suffer, and lives will be lost.”
Assistance to refugees inside Cameroon has already begun reducing as resources ran out; in July, WFP was forced to end assistance for 26,000 refugees from Nigeria in the Minawao refugee camp in the north; and refugees from the Central African Republican (CAR) in the Gado Camp in eastern Cameroon are now receiving only half of their daily food needs, pushing families to adopt negative coping strategies such as skipping meals, or selling their limited belongings to afford food.
In 2025, WFP delivered lifesaving food assistance to 523,000 people, including internally displaced families, Nigerian and CAR refugees, and vulnerable host communities.
Almost 300,000 women and children have also benefited from nutrition support and school meals. This support has helped stabilise communities, improve childhood and educational outcomes, and prevent hunger from deteriorating in some of Cameroon’s most fragile regions.
Without immediate funding, these gains will be reversed.
“These cuts will worsen food security in the short-term but also have long-term implications for the country, Ferrera warned. “Cutting school meals will likely reverse hard-won gains in education, including school attendance and retention. This is a crucial moment to protect the most vulnerable, preserve progress, and prevent a deeper crisis.”
An estimated 2.6 million people across the country are projected to face acute food insecurity between June and August 2025, a six per cent increase from the same period last year, according to the March 2025 Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis.
The Far North and Northwest regions account for the largest share of the food-insecure population.
An additional $65.5 million is urgently needed to continue lifesaving assistance over the next six months, extending from August 2025 to January 2026.
