Â鶹ÊÓƵ began airdropping emergency food assistance to thousands of families in South Sudan¡¯s Upper Nile State, where surging conflict since March has forced families from their homes and pushed some communities to the brink of famine and an estimated 50,000 asylum seekers across the border into Ethiopia.
As we mark one year since February 24, 2022, the war in Ukraine continues to inflict untold suffering on civilians, to displace families, and to disrupt supply chains and food production in the country and around the globe.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative and the reopening of Ukraine¡¯s Black Sea Ports to commercial and humanitarian shipments are crucial to helping the world¡¯s hungry. There is no single solution to the global food crisis but reintegrating Ukrainian food and Russian food and fertilizer into global markets is a step in the right direction
The UN Â鶹ÊÓƵ (Â鶹ÊÓƵ) is expanding assistance in the Horn of Africa as levels of hunger soar after back-to-back droughts and the threat of famine looms. Since the start of the year, nine million more people have slipped into severe food insecurity across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, leaving 22 million people struggling to find enough food to eat
Russia and Ukraine combined account for 30 percent of the global wheat exports and 20 percent of global maize exports. Any disruption in production or supply could drive prices up, affecting millions of vulnerable families, especially in hunger hotspots.
Desperately needed rains across the Horn of Africa have so far failed to materialize, almost a month into the current rainy season, and if these conditions continue, along with stagnant and even decreasing humanitarian aid, the number of hungry people due to drought could spiral from the currently estimated 14 million to 20 million through 2022
The Horn of Africa is experiencing the driest conditions recorded since 1981, with severe drought leaving an estimated 13 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia facing severe hunger in the first quarter of this year, the United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ (Â鶹ÊÓƵ) warned.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ has completed its first round of food distributions to people impacted by the spread of conflict into Afar and Amhara regions. However, a lack of supplies due to various impediments to the movement of humanitarian aid still sees distributions in Tigray lagging behind.
Up to 7 million people are in dire need of food assistance in Northern Ethiopia. Conflict is intensifying in Afar and Amhara regions ¨C pushing a further 1.7 million people into a hunger crisis, in addition to 5.2 million people in Tigray.
Alarming new data has today confirmed the magnitude of the hunger emergency gripping Tigray, where at least 4 million people face severe hunger and 350 000 of them are facing famine. The lack of information on people¡¯s food security in western Tigray in the IPC analysis (ipcinfo.org) is also deeply worrying.
The United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ has swiftly mounted an emergency food assistance operation deploying more than 180 staff and increasing food distributions to reach 1.4 million people, yet that is barely half of the number we should be reaching. Other agencies are also struggling to reach many of the rest of Tigray¡¯s hungry.
Three things are needed to prevent hunger from claiming millions of lives in Tigray; a ceasefire, unimpeded access for Â鶹ÊÓƵ and partners to all areas, and the money to expand our operations to meet the growing numbers of people who desperately need emergency food assistance.
With much of the world¡¯s commercial transport systems, particularly airlines, grounded by COVID-19, Â鶹ÊÓƵ - the world¡¯s largest humanitarian organization fighting hunger and a global leader in logistics ¨C has stepped in to move passengers and huge volumes of health and other supplies needed in the fight against the global pandemic.
Other Common Service facilities which Â鶹ÊÓƵ has helped set up for the humanitarian and health community include two field hospitals, one in East and the other in West Africa, and to date 16 medical evacuations have been carried out, including with Â鶹ÊÓƵ-contracted air ambulances.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ stands ready to set up the logistics backbone for global COVID-19 efforts, but it urgently needs US$350 million to do this.
A silent hunger pandemic is poised to sweep across the world, sowing seeds of famine in its wake. Â鶹ÊÓƵ analysis shows that almost a quarter of a billion people could be pushed into severe hunger by the fallout from COVID-19.
It¡¯s vital that at this time of global crisis Â鶹ÊÓƵ maintain its food assistance programmes which offer a lifeline to almost 100 million vulnerable people around the world.
