Moscow: Around 40 countries currently require continuous external food assistance, Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Liaison Office with Russia, told RIA Novosti in an interview. According to Nam News Network, famine is expected to worsen in 13 countries, with the FAO urging major donors, including Russia, to make voluntary contributions to FAO and its partners' emergency assistance programs. The list of countries with a potentially deteriorating situation includes Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Syria, Somalia, and Chad. The situation has shown improvement in Southeast Asia and South Asia, primarily due to socio-economic growth in India, as well as in South America. However, this positive trend contrasts with the steady increase in famine across most sub-regions of Africa and West Asia, Kobiakov noted.