AMNA NAWAZ: The world has never been wealthier or more advanced technologically, yet hunger still stalks tens of millions globally; 122 million more people now face hunger than in 2019.

And now nearly 20 percent of the 1.4 billion people across Africa face hunger.

Earlier today, I spoke with the executive director of the U.N.'s World Food Program, Cindy McCain.

She warns that the crisis could worsen without global action.

World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

Thank you so much for joining us.

CINDY MCCAIN, Executive Director, World Food Program: Thanks for having me.

Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, you were joining us from Juba in South Sudan.

You have been visiting the border region between Chad and Sudan, where hunger is -- as you have said before, is being driven by both conflict and the climate crisis.

Just give us a sense of what you saw on the ground.

CINDY MCCAIN: Well, South Sudan right now is very lush-looking because it's had so much rain.

But what we're really seeing is a lot of impact from flooding.

And there is climate change for you right there.

So there's various regions that have been hit very hard, some of the dikes were blown out, and some that are not doing so bad.

The problem is that people -- because it's been continuously flooding for so many years, people have had to leave their homes.

And so you see a vast surface from the air, and then there's all these empty farm plots, and everything all along.

So it's disrupted life completely.

And, consequently, there's people that are very -- very much in need of food, and they're very hungry.

AMNA NAWAZ: When you're talking about the scale of need that you yourself have witnessed there, what are we talking about?

CINDY MCCAIN: Oh, it's enormous.

These people are, for the most part, on the brink of starvation.

And, of course, conflict, you add conflict to this, which is part of the refugees coming over the border fleeing conflict in the north, and conflict that has already existed here, it complicates everything.

The people, for most of their lives, many of them have been running from one place to another to escape it.

So there's a lot of people that are either in refugee camps or just on their own out in the bush trying to survive on whatever they can find.

And there just isn't any food AMNA NAWAZ: Your work -- and we think about the World Food Program, and we think about food aid and cash assistance and so on.

You have also been focusing a lot on food resilience.

What does that mean?

What are some examples of that on the ground?

CINDY MCCAIN: When you when you talk about emergency food, that's the people that are coming over the border that have nothing to exist on that are six months in and still have nothing to exist on.

That's emergency.

But that's not the solution.

The solution is resilience, the ability to give people the tools to begin to farm and farm their own land, so that they not only can feed themselves, but they can feed their communities.

And, that way, there's an economic portion to this.

It's the only way we're going to solve the problem of hunger, is resilience and making sure that people can feed themselves.

AMNA NAWAZ: In terms of meeting the emergency need, though, just this past weekend... CINDY MCCAIN: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: ... an official from the World Food Program said, in at least 38 of the 86 countries that you operate in, you have already had to cut aid or may soon have to cut aid.

In Syria, for example, about 5.5 million people who rely on you for food, you had to cut their rations.

What does that look like day to day on the ground for these folks?

CINDY MCCAIN: Oh, it's heart-wrenching.

I have seen it three or four times just here and then many times in other countries, people being told that you only have three weeks left or you're up on your six-month mark, and we can't supply food anymore.

It's tragic, because they don't have any other place to go.

But we don't have a choice at this point because we don't have enough money.

There are so many -- so many crises going on.

So we're spread very thin.

Literally, here in Sudan, where we are $400 million short to be able to just keep things at an even keel here.

It's a lot of money.

AMNA NAWAZ: Why do you believe you have seen a drop in donations?

What's driving that?

CINDY MCCAIN: Oh, I think there's a lot of reasons.

I think there's a little bit of donor fatigue in it, because we were pushing, pushing, pushing when Ukraine hit, pushing, pushing, pushing for other - - when the earthquake hit, of course.

I think people are just -- they're stretched then.

And they're a little -- a little tired right now.

So it's up to us at WFP to reinvigorate this discussion, make sure people understand the importance, and really where it sits and how this could be very disruptive to the world if we don't help.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, speaking of Ukraine, as you know, there was a grain deal in place, whereby Russian President Vladimir Putin was allowing for the export of that crucial grain from Ukraine through the Black Sea.

That deal has now fallen apart.

How will that impact your work?

CINDY MCCAIN: Well, it's impacting a great deal, because some of that grain came to Africa.

So we're going to have to source grain another way.

And we can do that.

We're going to do that.

And we are doing it to a degree.

But I'm disappointed.

I mean, this is -- you're only hurting the most needy people in the world by doing this.

And so it just -- it's a real shame that, somehow, we have to -- have to once again tell people who can't feed themselves that we don't have enough because the grain isn't there.

And so that drives up starvation.

It drives up malnutrition.

It drives up illness, disease, everything else that comes around with a weakened body.

And so I'm just very disappointed in the whole thing.

And I'm hoping that clearer heads prevail and that we can once again put this deal back together.

AMNA NAWAZ: There was a senior administration official from the Biden administration yesterday talking to reporters about the agenda for the U.N. Security Council.

And that person said that food security is consistently a top priority.

CINDY MCCAIN: It is.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you see that?

Do you see those words matching their actions?

CINDY MCCAIN: Yes, I do believe that that is happening.

But that's my -- partially, because WFP and other organizations have literally rang the alarm bells.

We all went forward to our various entities that we talked to, and certainly the U.N., and said, look, you got to put this on the table front and center.

And so we all started doing that just prior and just before Ukraine broke.

And then, consequently, afterwards, it's front and center everywhere.

AMNA NAWAZ: As you know, some of the same conflicts and the same nations can often dominate some of the global headlines.

You have been out on the road, on the front lines of WFP's work.

Where else should we be looking that we're not?

CINDY MCCAIN: Well, we haven't -- I was in Chad, as you know.

I was just a couple -- maybe 10 days ago on the Chad border.

And we have also been to Somalia and some other regional places around.

And what we're seeing is a continued hesitancy on the part of many countries to get involved and be involved and give more than they are.

And I think the hesitancy is a lot because of the instability.

And so it -- well, WFP is always first in, and we stay, and we are not leaving any of these countries at all.

We're here.

But we do need funding and we do you need extra help.

AMNA NAWAZ: The executive director of the World Food Program, Cindy McCain, joining us tonight from South Sudan.

Mrs. McCain, thank you so much for your time.

CINDY MCCAIN: Thank you.

Thank you for having me.