Plan International has called on world leaders to fund a $41 billion humanitarian response to prevent famine globally and address the emergencies fuelling global hunger.
In an open letter to world leaders, the nonprofit said conflict, the climate crises, and the Covid-19 pandemic were the main drivers of global famine and hunger.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), 274 million people worldwide will need emergency aid and protection in 2022, a 17 percent increase compared with this year.
The devastating effects of climate change such as severe droughts, floods, reduced agricultural yields, sea-level rise and other climate-related disasters are on the rise in Africa.
Climate change has contributed to a jump in food insecurity, mosquito-borne disease and mass displacement in the past decade.
‘One of the main causes of humanitarian need is food insecurity with the number of people at risk of famine rising 60 [percent] since before the [Covid-19] pandemic’, the nonprofit said.
Currently, an estimated 45 million people across 43 countries are at risk of famine, up from 27 million in 2019′.
Close to half a million people experience famine-like conditions in Ethiopia, Madagascar, and South Sudan. Vulnerable populations in Burkina Faso and Nigeria have also been subjected to these same conditions.
Severe hunger has touched over 1.1 million people in Madagascar, with 14,000 of them one step away from famine, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis shows that over 350,000 people face catastrophic famine conditions (phase five) and a further two million in phase four in crisis-ridden Tigray region.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) had said that the Horn of Africa was under threat of worsening drought conditions, food insecurity and other impacts of climate change.
Data from the United Nations (UN) also shows that 2.3 million people are already suffering with serious water, food and pasture shortages in Somalia, with the UN warning that the rapidly worsening drought could lead to an extreme situation by April 2022.
In September 2021, WFP reported that 1.4 million children were suffering from acute malnutrition and 2.47 million people were at risk of famine in South Sudan.
Source: Plan International
Photo source: Oxfam
