2023-05-03 08:40:02
ROME (AP) — More than 250 million people in 58 countries suffered severe food insecurity last year due to conflict, climate change, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, according to a report published on Wednesday.
People faced the risk of famine and death in seven of those countries: Somalia, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen, according to the Global Report on Food Crises, an alliance of humanitarian organizations funded by the United Nations and the European Union.
The number of people facing severe food insecurity and in need of urgent food assistance – 258 million people – increased for the fourth consecutive year, a “stark testimonial to humanity’s failure” to meet United Nations targets to end with hunger in the world, denounced the UN Secretary General, António Guterres.
Although last year’s increase was partly due to more population being tested, the report also showed an increase in the severity of the problem, “highlighting a worrying deteriorating trend.”
Rein Paulsen, director of emergencies and resilience for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, said hunger was being driven by several interlocking factors. Among them were conflicts, the climate impact, the effect of the pandemic and the consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has rocked the global trade in fertilizers, wheat, corn and sunflower oil.
The impact has been most severe in the poorest countries that depend on food imports. “Prices have gone up (and) those countries have been negatively affected,” Paulsen said.
The expert called for a “paradigm shift” so that more funding is devoted to agricultural interventions that anticipate food crises and try to prevent them.
“The challenge we have is the imbalance, the disparity that exists between the amount of money that is given, what that funding is spent on, and the types of interventions needed to bring regarding change,” he said.
Severe food insecurity is defined as the situation in which a person’s inability to eat adequately puts their life or livelihood in immediate danger.
1683104071
#reports #continued #increase #world #hunger