Famine threat

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has issued a stark warning about the state of hunger getting worse by the day

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has issued a stark warning to the world about the state of hunger getting worse by the day. Addressing the Security Council during a meeting on the links between food and security last Thursday, Guterres said millions of people around the world risk dying of hunger. On a sombre note, he said more than 30 million people in more than three dozen countries are “just one step away from a declaration of famine.”

The situation highlighted by the UN chief should be enough to tug at the world conscience and rattle nerves of people who care for others. We were already in the know of grim statistics about hunger before the head of the world body shed light on the latest situation. In a world where we produce enough food to feed everyone, 821 million people — one in nine — still go to bed on an empty stomach each night. Even more — one in three — suffer from some form of malnutrition, according to the latest figures. Eradicating hunger and malnutrition, therefore, is one of the great challenges of our time. No wonder Guterres noted the urgency of immediate action to stop millions of people from reaching the brink of extreme hunger and death.

As if the starvation of a great chunk of humanity was not enough, climate shocks and the Covid-19 pandemic are “adding fuel to the flames”. One more disturbing element of the situation, as aptly noted by Guterres, is that if we don’t feed people, we feed conflict. At the end of 2020, more than 88 million people were suffering from acute hunger due to conflict and instability — a 20 per cent increase in one year. High-risk zones include the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, South Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan. Guterres has announced the launch of a taskforce “to avert catastrophe” after the World Food Program and UN Food and Agriculture Organization appealed for emergency mobilisation of $5.5 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2021.

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