UN official: More than 700 million people do not know when they will eat again!

Baghdad-INA

Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, said that the global hunger crisis has left more than 700 million people not knowing when, or if, they will eat again.

McCain indicated before the UN Security Council that due to a lack of funding, the agency was forced to reduce food rations for millions of people, and that "more cuts are on the way.".

She added, "We are now living with a series of simultaneous and long-term crises that will continue to fuel global humanitarian needs. This is the new reality for the humanitarian community - our new normal - and we will deal with the repercussions for years to come," noting, "The agency's estimates indicate that approximately... 47 million people in more than 50 countries are just one step away from famine, and there are now 45 million children under the age of five suffering from acute malnutrition.

According to WFP estimates in the 79 countries where the Rome-based agency works, as many as 783 million people, one in 10 of the world's population, still go to bed hungry every night.

The agency said more than 345 million people face high levels of food insecurity this year, an increase of nearly 200 million people from early 2021 before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The World Food Program said: “The root cause of these high numbers is a deadly combination of conflict, economic shocks, extreme weather events, and a significant rise in fertilizer prices.”