Despite an alarm sounded by international agencies worldwide, food insecurity is plunging millions into extreme hunger, triggered by wars and conflicts, extreme weather events, and economic shocks.
The staggering statistics in the 2024 edition of the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) once again point to the enormity and scale of the current situation, and the need to invest in solutions that “secure food security, stability, and peace for all”.
According to the latest report, 2023 was the fifth consecutive year with a rising number of people suffering acute food insecurity, with as many as 281.6 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity across 59 countries and territories. More confounding is the fact that in five countries, 705,000 people are at the highest level of food insecurity and hunger.
The report found wars and conflicts as the primary drivers of food insecurity, affecting 20 countries and 135 million people- almost half of the global population. The war-torn Gaza has the highest number of 577,000 people facing catastrophic hunger ever recorded by the GRFC.
The current situation in the war-torn Gaza accounts for 80 per cent of those facing imminent famine, along with South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Somalia, and Mali.
When it comes to Sudan, which has been lashed by civil war over the past year, it has created the world’s largest internal displacement and food crisis, with millions facing hunger and malnutrition, particularly women and children.
According to the report, by July 2024, around 1.1 million people in Gaza and 79,000 people in South Sudan will fall into the worst phase of food insecurity, facing famine.
“This global crisis demands an urgent response. Using the data in this report to transform food systems and address the underlying causes of food insecurity and malnutrition will be vital, as will finance,” said António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, during the launch of the report.
Extreme weather events were the primary drivers in 18 countries where over 77 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity, up from 12 countries with 57 million people in 2022.
As reported by GRFC, a food crisis emerges when acute food insecurity necessitates immediate intervention to safeguard lives and livelihoods at local or national levels, surpassing local resources and capacities to respond adequately.
Populations enduring prolonged food insecurity or malnutrition are particularly susceptible to food crises, exacerbated by structural factors that heighten vulnerability to shocks.
It is not long ago that World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain warned of a severe global hunger crisis affecting over 700 million people who are uncertain about when or if they will have their next meal.
“This is the humanitarian community’s new reality- our new normal - and we will be dealing with the fallout for years to come,” she said, adding that “at the root of the soaring numbers is a deadly combination of conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes, and soaring fertilizer prices.”
As the GRFC report points out, acute malnutrition worsened in 2023, particularly among people displaced because of conflict and disasters. Children and women are at the forefront of these hunger crises, with over 36 million children under five years of age acutely malnourished.
The report calls for urgent long-term national and international investment to transform food systems, boost agricultural and rural development, and advocate for peace and the prevention of conflict to become integral parts of the longer-term transformation of food systems.
The fact, however, as Guterres highlighted, is that “in a world of plenty, children are starving to death,” and only “with commitment and concerted action, we can create a world where hunger has no home.”
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