Conflicts Force Up Global Hunger Levels

Almost 400,000 famine victims who fled to the Mogadishu for aid at the height of famine, are still living in one of the many refugee camps outside Mogadishu. Credit: Abdurrahman Warsameh/IPSBy Tharanga YakupitiyageUNITED NATIONS, Mar 28 2018 (IPS)Largely driven by conflict, the number of hungry people has dramatically increased around the world, reversing decades of progress, according to a new report. Launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), the Global Report on Food Crises 2018 has exposed the worrisome scale and magnitude of today’s crises.“It’s been a very difficult year,” FAO’s Senior Strategic Adviser and lead author of the report Luca Russo told IPS in response to the staggering figures.The UN agencies found that almost 130 million people across 51 countries face severe food insecurity, an 11 percent rise from the previous year.Russo pointed out that insecurity has increasingly become the main driver of food insecurity, accounting for 60 percent, or 74 million, of the global total. If this population made up a country, it would be larger than the United Kingdom and France combined.The report attributes the increase to new and intensified conflict in countries such as Myanmar, Nigeria and Yemen.Russo expressed particular concern for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, both of which have become Africa’s largest humanitarian crises.In the DRC, an escalation of violence...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Aid Armed Conflicts Climate Change Crime & Justice Featured Food & Agriculture Global Headlines Health Human Rights Labour Migration & Refugees Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news