In the current edition of a regular joint bi-yearly report, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warn that acute food insecurity is likely to worsen across 16 countries and territories identified as hotspots between November 2025 and May 2026, prompting an early warning for urgent humanitarian action in these identified hunger hotspots.The Sudan, Palestine, South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali remain at the highest concern level, and Yemen has been elevated to hotspot of highest concern. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar and Nigeria remain hotspots of very high concern. Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic have been elevated to this category, together with Afghanistan, which has re-entered the list of hotspots following its last appearance in November 2023. Burkina Faso and Chad remain hotspots, with Kenya and the situation of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh added to the list.Armed conflict and violence remain the primary driver of acute food insecurity, and global economic fragility, high debt burdens and uneven recovery are also expected to continue deepening acute food insecurity across several hotspots. Weather extremes and increased climate variability are further exacerbating acute food insecurity. By late 2025, the international community faces a narrowing window of opportunity to prevent mass starvation and widespread deaths. Famines are never inevitable – they are almost always foreseeable and preventable. Famine prevention requires greater coherence in political commitments, funding allocations and interventions along the humanitarian–development–peace nexus. Against this background, funding for food, emergency agriculture and nutrition assistance remains critically insufficient. This threatens to deepen acute food insecurity and malnutrition, and to leave millions without life-saving support. In this context, targeted humanitarian action is urgently needed to save lives and livelihoods across all hunger hotspots and is critical in those of highest concern to prevent starvation and further loss of life. At the same time, substantially greater investment in anticipatory action is needed to mitigate emerging needs and reduce the impact of disasters.The report focuses on the most severe and deteriorating acute hunger situations, but it does not represent all countries and territories experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity.