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People in four food insecurity “hotspots” in Burkina Faso, northeastern Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen, need urgent help to avoid falling into famine, UN humanitarians said.
“We are concerned that they may face a high risk of famine if the situation worsens further in the coming months,” said Claudia Ah Poe, senior food security advisor at the World Food Program (WFP), speaking at a press conference at the UN. Geneva.
In a joint alert with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), WFP also warned that another 16 countries will also face a “major (food) emergency – or a series of emergencies” in the next three. -six months.
Drivers of these humanitarian crises include long-lasting conflicts and a lack of humanitarian access to communities in need; the climatic extremes and economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, said in a new report on food insecurity hot spots.
Nations at risk
Nations at risk include Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo – where 22 million people suffer from severe food insecurity, the highest number ever recorded for a single country – Ethiopia, Haiti and Venezuela.
“These countries already had significant acute levels of food insecurity in 2020 … and are now facing the risk of further rapid deterioration in the coming months,” said Ah Poe, WFP’s food safety adviser.
Pandemic relapse
Data from March to September also showed that while COVID-19 restrictions were progressively lifted in many countries, allowing economic activity to resume, food insecurity worsened in 27 countries, with a high of 104. 6 million people in need.
In 2019, the number of people facing similar levels of food insecurity in these 27 countries was 97.6 million, according to the WFP.
“In those 27 countries, the number of people who are already facing acute food insecurity is already (sic) more than 100 million. The analysis is obviously ongoing, so we expect this number to increase much more,” he said. said Poe.
“And earlier this year, we estimated in the countries where we operate – around 80 countries – an additional 121 million people would be at risk of falling into food insecurity.”
(With the contribution of the agencies)
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