PARIS – World hunger rose steeply last year, with six times more people living in “famine-like conditions” than in 2019, said rights group Oxfam today.
The coronavirus has exacerbated existing crises sparked by conflict and climate change – the “three lethal Cs”, according to the group.
“Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, vulnerable communities around the world have been sending a clear, urgent and repeated message: hunger may kill us before the coronavirus. Today, deaths from hunger are outpacing the virus,” said Oxfam in a statement.
It calculates that 11 people a minute are likely dying from acute hunger, compared with seven a minute from Covid-19.
The group identified countries including Yemen, the Central African Republic, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Venezuela and Syria as those where existing food crises have been worsened by the onset of the pandemic and its economic consequences.
“Mass unemployment and severely disrupted food production have led to a 40% rise in global food prices, the largest increase in more than a decade.”
In total, it said, over half a million people are living in “famine-like conditions” around the world, while 155 million live with “extreme hunger” – the equivalent of the combined populations of France and Germany.
Of the 155 million, two out of three live in a country with ongoing war or conflict.
“Conflict remains the biggest driver of hunger around the globe for three consecutive years, including during the pandemic,” said the organisation.
“We are currently seeing the superimposition of crises: unceasing conflicts, the economic consequences of Covid-19, and a spiralling climate crisis,” said Helene Botreau, the agriculture and food security advocacy officer at Oxfam France.
The analysis comes ahead of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation’s own report on global food security, due to be published on Monday. – AFP, July 9, 2021
