Global hunger data highlights the severity of famine risks

Conflicts, weather extremes and economic shocks pushed more people in more countries into dangerous levels of acute hunger in 2023, UN agencies warned on Wednesday, at the launch of the latest Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC).

“More than 281 million people in 59 countries and territories faced levels of acute food insecurity” said Dominique Burgeon, Director at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at a media briefing in Geneva.

This means more than one in five people faced acute food insecurity in 2023, compared with around just one in 10 in 48 countries in 2016.

“One step before famine affected over 26 million people,” said Mr. Burgeon. Comparing the number of people facing catastrophic condition for nutrition in 2023 with the situation eight years ago, he said that “the total population in catastrophe was more than four times higher” than in 2016.

“The report also tells us that 60 percent of children experiencing acute malnutrition live in the ten countries facing the highest level of acute food insecurity,” Mr. Burgeon said.

The findings from the report, a collaborative effort by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), reveal that food crises intensified alarmingly in conflict hotspots in 2023, notably in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Gaza) and Sudan.

Gaza has become the site of the most severe food crisis in the history of these global classifications and hunger reports. “We estimate 30 percent of children below age of two, are now acutely malnourished or wasted and 70 percent of the population in the north facing catastrophic hunger,” said Gian Carlo Cirri, Director of the WFP Office in Geneva, in response to a question on the situation there. “There is reasonable evidence that all three famine thresholds - food insecurity, malnutrition, mortality - will be passed in the next six weeks,” he added.

“People cannot meet even the most basic food needs,” Mr. Cirri said in relation to the situation in Gaza. “They have exhausted all coping strategies like eating animal fodder, begging, selling of their belongings to buy food. They are most of the time destitute and, and clearly some of them are dying of hunger.”

In Sudan, more than 20 million individuals (42 percent of the population) were faced with food shortages following the eruption of conflict in April 2023. This figure represents the largest population worldwide facing emergency levels of acute food insecurity (IPC4-level on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warning scale, where IPC5 signifies the most critical level of danger).

“Sudan is a major concern for the nutrition component because primarily of the major caseload, the number of people is staggering and also for the difficulty of reaching these people. In many areas, it is impossible [to have] access and or inconsistent access,” said Stefano Fedele, Global Nutrition Cluster Coordinator from the UNICEF office in Geneva.

Acute and severe malnutrition among children and women continued to deteriorate, especially in conflict-affected areas. In 2023, over 36 million children were acutely malnourished in 32 food crisis countries. “Thirty-six point four million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished as reported, […] and 9.8 million, so almost 10 million of these children, are severely malnourished and in urgent need of treatment,” Mr. Fedele said. “These children are at an increased risk of dying. And even if they recover from malnutrition, they're likely to not meet their full cognitive or developmental potential,” he added.

As the planting season draws near, the report authors emphasized the urgent need for humanitarian aid to be swiftly deployed for Sudan, both within the country and across its borders. “When you know that we are a couple of weeks away from the planting season, it is absolutely critical that wherever it will be possible to access the people, we provide them with agricultural inputs on time so that they can plant their field,” said Mr. Burgeon. “If those people fail to plant their field, it means we have to be prepared for massive, food assistance requirement until the next harvest next year.”

The authors predicted a bleak outlook for 2024, where conflicts will continue to be the main drivers of acute food insecurity throughout 2024, with Gaza, Sudan and Haiti the most likely hotspots.

Decreasing humanitarian funding and increasing costs of delivery pose a further threat, already resulting in reduced beneficiary numbers and food assistance rations among many food-insecure populations. “This is truly a global challenge,” said Courtney Blake, Senior Humanitarian Advisor for the U.S. Mission in Geneva, who also spoke at the Geneva report launch, “There are far too many people waking up in the morning not knowing where their next meal will come from, not knowing how to feed their children, and having to make really truly impossible decisions throughout the course of their day to ensure that their most fundamental needs are being met,” Ms. Blake said.

-ends-

STORY: Global Report on Food crises

TRT: 4:59”

SOURCE: UNTV CH

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 24 April 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Med shot: UN flag alley

2. Wide shot: speakers at the podium with journalists in the Press room

3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dominique Burgeon, Director of the FAO Liaison Office in Geneva: “More than 281 million people in 59 countries and territories faced levels of acute food insecurity that are classified, in line with IPC classification, as crisis, emergency and catastrophe.”

4. Med shot: Speakers at the podium with journalists in press room

5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dominique Burgeon, Director of the FAO Liaison Office in Geneva: “One step before famine affected over 26 million people. While the total population in catastrophe was more than four times higher than in 2016. The report also tells us that 60 percent of children experiencing acute malnutrition live in the ten countries facing the highest level of acute food insecurity.”

6. Wide shot: Journalists in press room

7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dominique Burgeon, Director of the FAO Liaison Office in Geneva: ”The Gaza Strip became the most severe food crisis in our reporting history. Conflict and insecurity, along with extreme weather, events and economic shocks, are the key drivers of food insecurity and nutrition crisis.”

8. Wide shot: speakers at the podium with journalists in the Press room

9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Gian Carlo Cirri, Director WFP Geneva: “We estimate 30 percent of children, below age of two, are now acutely malnourished or wasted and 70 percent of the population in the north facing catastrophic hunger. There is reasonable evidence that all three famine thresholds - food insecurity, malnutrition, mortality - will be passed in the next six weeks.”

10. Med shot: Speakers at the podium

11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Gian Carlo Cirri, Director WFP Geneva: “People cannot meet even the most basic food needs. They have exhausted all coping strategies like eating animal fodder, begging, selling of their belongings to buy food. They are most of the time destitute and, and clearly some of them are dying of hunger.”

12. Wide shot, press briefing room with journalists

13. SOUNDBITE (English) - Stefano Fedele, Global Nutrition Cluster Coordinator, UNICEF Geneva: “Sudan is a major concern for, the nutrition component because primarily of the major caseload, the number of people is staggering and also for the difficulty of reaching these people. In many areas, there is impossible access and or inconsistent access.”

14. Med shot: Journalists in press room

15. SOUNDBITE (English) - Stefano Fedele, Global Nutrition Cluster Coordinator, UNICEF Geneva: “36.4 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished as reported in the report, and 9.8 million, so almost 10 million of these children, are severely malnourished and in urgent need of treatment. And these children are at an increased risk of dying. And even if they recover from malnutrition, they're likely to not meet their full cognitive or developmental potential.”

16. Med shot, camerawomen looking at their cell phones

17. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dominique Burgeon, Director of the FAO Liaison Office in Geneva: “When you know that we are a couple of weeks away from the planting season, it is absolutely critical that wherever it will be possible to access the people, we provide them with agricultural inputs on time so that they can plant their field. If those people fail to plant their field, it means we have to be prepared for massive, food assistance requirement until the next harvest next year.”

18. Wide shot, press briefing room with journalists

19. SOUNDBITE (English) – Kahin Ismail, Chief Self-Reliance and Economic Inclusion Section, UNHCR: “This edition of the global report has a spotlight highlighting the displacement context in the food security situation. And the report shows that a strong correlation of high level of food insecurity and malnutrition among the displaced communities. It also shows a particular situation of refugees and IDPs that are deteriorating and being exacerbated by the food insecurity.”

20. Med shot, Journalists listening

21. SOUNDBITE (English) – Courtney Blake, Senior Humanitarian Advisor for the US Mission in Geneva: “This is truly a global challenge. There are far too many people waking up in the morning not knowing where their next meal will come from, not knowing how to feed their children, and having to make really truly impossible decisions throughout the course of their day to ensure that their most fundamental needs are being met.”

22. Wide shot: Speakers at the podium with journalists in press room

23. Med shot, Journalists listening

24. Close up, Journalist listening