Action Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger is a global humanitarian organisation dedicated to ending world hunger and addressing the underlying causes of malnutrition. Founded in France in 1979, it works to prevent and treat undernutrition, ensure access to safe water, improve food security, and build sustainable solutions that support long-term community resilience. Today the organisation operates across numerous regions, responding to emergencies, supporting vulnerable populations, and promoting policies that strengthen global nutrition and health systems.

Origins and Early Development

Action Against Hunger was created by a group of French doctors, scientists, and writers who sought to establish an organisation capable of responding rapidly to humanitarian crises. The Nobel Prize-winning physicist Alfred Kastler served as the organisation’s first chairman. The group’s early missions focused on supporting Afghan refugees in Pakistan, communities in Uganda affected by famine, and Cambodian populations displaced into Thailand. These initial interventions marked the beginning of an approach that combined scientific innovation, emergency response, and long-term development support.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Action Against Hunger expanded its operations across Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the Balkans. During these formative years, the organisation became recognised for its scientific contributions to the treatment of acute malnutrition.

Scientific Contributions to Nutrition

One of Action Against Hunger’s most significant achievements was the development of the F-100 therapeutic milk formula, designed for the treatment of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Early clinical results demonstrated that F-100 could reduce mortality among severely malnourished children to below five per cent, a dramatic improvement in survival rates.
Building on this success, the organisation later supported the transition to ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs). These peanut-based pastes are packaged for easy, at-home consumption and do not require preparation or refrigeration. Their introduction revolutionised malnutrition treatment, allowing many children to be cared for in their own communities rather than in overcrowded medical facilities.

Organisational Structure and Global Network

Since 1995 Action Against Hunger has operated through an international network designed to increase efficiency, improve specialisation, and enhance global impact. The network includes headquarters in France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Italy, and India, along with regional offices in West Africa and the Horn and Eastern Africa, and logistical hubs in Lyon, Paris, Barcelona, Dubai, and Panama.
Three headquarters—France, Spain, and the United States—act as operational centres, directly managing field interventions. The principle of “one headquarters per country” guides coordination, ensuring coherent strategy-setting in each context.
Other member offices provide specialised support:

• United Kingdom: research, monitoring, evaluation, and policy work, including the Hunger Watch initiative.
• Canada: public and private fundraising and growing national advocacy roles.
• Italy: public awareness campaigns and private fundraising efforts.

Action Against Hunger’s International President is currently a Mumbai-based businessman and philanthropist, reflecting the increasingly global nature of the organisation’s leadership.

Core Areas of Work

Action Against Hunger’s work is organised into four principal sectors:

1. Nutrition and Health

The organisation implements programmes to prevent and treat acute malnutrition, provide maternal and child health services, and reduce the underlying causes of nutritional deficiencies.

2. Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)

Ensuring access to clean water and adequate sanitation is essential to preventing malnutrition. Action Against Hunger builds water systems, promotes hygiene practices, and responds to outbreaks of water-borne disease.

3. Food Security and Livelihoods

Through agricultural support, income-generating activities, and resilience-building initiatives, the organisation helps communities secure safe, sufficient, and sustainable sources of food.

4. Emergency Response

Action Against Hunger responds to natural disasters, conflicts, and sudden-onset crises, providing rapid assistance with food, clean water, medical care, and protection for displaced populations.
In 2022, Action Against Hunger USA led a major project funded by USAID to strengthen global health and nutrition governance, working in partnership with organisations such as Amref Health Africa, Pathfinder International, Global Communities, and Humanity & Inclusion.

Campaigns and Public Engagement

Action Against Hunger works closely with the global food and hospitality sector to raise awareness of hunger and generate support for its programmes. Annual fundraising campaigns include:

• Restaurants Against Hunger
• Love Food Give Food

These initiatives mobilise chefs, restaurant owners, and diners to contribute to anti-hunger programmes worldwide.

Countries of Intervention

As of 2022, Action Against Hunger operated in 56 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Its geographical presence includes:
Africa: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Chad, Zimbabwe, Zambia.
Asia: Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines; states in the Transcaucasia region.
Middle East: Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinian territories, Yemen, Jordan, Iraq.
Europe: Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Poland.
Latin America and the Caribbean: Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Honduras, Venezuela, Haiti.

International Network and Governance

The international network model enables specialisation by headquarters and maximises financial and human resources. Each office contributes to the organisation’s mission through its own strengths, whether programme management, advocacy, research, fundraising, or technical expertise.
The regional offices act as coordination centres for multi-country strategies, while the logistic platforms provide the supply-chain infrastructure needed to support large-scale field operations.