Extreme Food Insecurity to Spike in the Next 4 Months; UN Says 23 Countries Are Expected to Experience Food Shortages

In a new report from the United Nations, 23 'hunger hotspots' are expected to experience extreme food insecurity in the next four months.

According to ScienceAlert, the Food and Agriculture Organization or FAO and World Food Program or WFP, both UN bodies, published the advice a week ago, warning these hotspots will experience "crippling food shortages" from now up to November in the middle of dire obstructions to food assistance measures

WFP Executive Director David Beasley said families that depend on humanitarian support in order to survive "are hanging by a thread." He added, they cannot reach these families and that the thread is cut.

There has been an increase in food insecurity worldwide in recent years, according to a separate report from the UN that was published earlier this year.

It showed that more than 150 million people were encountering crisis-level food shortages last year, an increase of 20 million from the other year.

Falling into Famine or Famine-Like Situations

The new forecast - which warns over 41 million people worldwide are now at risk of falling into famine or famine-like conditions - lists 23 hunger hotspots, with Ethiopia and Madagascar representing the new highest-alert cases.

QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General said, most of those on the brink are farmers. So far, he added support to agriculture as vital means of avoiding widespread famine stays generally overlooked by donors. Minus such support to agriculture, Dongyu elaborated, humanitarian needs will continue to skyrocket.

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Hunger Hotspots

In Ethiopia, the situation is worsened by armed battles in the Tigray region that started in 2020, while Madagascar is presently encountering the worst drought in four decades, threatening tens of thousands of people with severe food shortages this year. Meanwhile, Yemen, Nigeria, and South Sudan are considered particularly high-level alerts.

Other hunger hotspots included in the 23 countries on the UN's list are Angola, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Kenya, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sierra Leone along with Somalia, and Libreria, among others.

While the nature of the food crisis in every nation is different, researchers from the UN said the most common drivers of severe hunger problems include conflict, natural hazard risks, and economic shocks including those that stem from the COVID-19 crisis.

Due to the ongoing nature of such issues, nations that are vulnerable to food insecurity are receiving a variety of food assistance programs, but according to the UN, this life-saving support often risks being cut off because of armed battles, blockades, and bureaucratic hindrances.

This report, posted on the WFP website, also specified that it is imperative that aimed humanitarian action is countering the threat of these essential services being taken away, or conditions that involve thousands and thousands of families can spiral from crises to emergencies, to absolute starvations.

Commenting on this latest UN report, Beasley said, humanitarian access "is not some abstract concept." Meaning, authorities that approve paperwork in time so that food can be quickly moved. It also means checkpoints that give permission to trucks to pass and reach their destinations.

Lastly, it means that humanitarian respondents are not targeted and therefore, they are able to continue with their life, their livelihood, not to mention, saving work.

A similar report is about extreme food insecurity is shown on Wahjoc Food's YouTube video below: