Associated Press Maria de Jesus Renderos, 73, shows a few kilograms of corn purchased to sustain her family in Tecoluca, El Salvador, part of the Central American Dry Corridor, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)

Much of the world’s attention today is fixed on election campaigns, polls, predictions and political battles. Headlines are dominated by who is up, who is down and what comes next.

But while candidates compete for votes, another race is unfolding far from the campaign trail: a race against hunger that millions of families are in danger of losing.

Today, more than 266 million people face acute food insecurity. Yet hunger rarely becomes a headline until it reaches catastrophic levels. By the time images of starving children appear on our screens, families have often been suffering for months, even years.

Famine doesn’t arrive all at once.…