A UN report warns that acute food crisis intensifies in 19 hotspots will increase significantly. This will result in intensified conflicts, heavier extreme weather-related disasters, and greater economic volatility, all set against the already weakened backdrop from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the shocks of the ongoing Ukraine conflict compounding the factors.
A record 970,000 are now experiencing catastrophic hunger globally, and countries including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and South Sudan are already either experiencing or have been projected to reach severe levels of famine. Yemen is yet another country, which is becoming increasingly at risk if urgent steps are not implemented.
Hunger Hotspots: This is a report released by the FAO and WFP, listing areas of acute food insecurity. It appeals to humanitarian action to prevent further loss of lives and livelihoods, with an emphasis on early warning systems to prevent growing food crises.
It is of great urgency to avert famine in high-risk countries where acute food insecurity is projected to deteriorate between October 2022 and January 2023, posing a grave threat to vulnerable populations.
Ongoing conflicts are placing many people, especially in the poorest countries, still reeling from the pandemic, under intense pressure. Such crises have raised prices, broken food and fertilizer supplies, and worsened the climate emergency, leaving communities vulnerable and hard hit.
FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu emphasized that, without a full and prompt humanitarian response concentrated on life-saving support in agriculture, the situation in many countries will likely worsen in the coming months. He stressed the urgent need for immediate intervention to avoid further exacerbation of the crisis.
WFP Executive Director David Beasley stressed on the urgent call for assistance needed in Somalia as well as hunger hotspots that are witnessing further aggravation from rising food prices and a gravely acute deficit of livelihoods. He was calling for a need for speedy support to deliver aid to individuals at grave risk of starvation.
The report shows that Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen are hotspots of high risk, with almost a million people facing severe hunger. For them, starvation and death have become the reality of everyday life, a reflection of the devastating level of food insecurity in these areas.
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