{"id":273201,"date":"2024-09-09T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=273201"},"modified":"2024-09-23T14:38:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T13:38:32","slug":"catastrophic-hunger-doubles-in-2024-gaza-and-sudan-worst-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/09\/catastrophic-hunger-doubles-in-2024-gaza-and-sudan-worst-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"Catastrophic Hunger Doubles in 2024; Gaza and Sudan Worst Hit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

The number of people experiencing extreme hunger has surged in 2024. Pictured here, a displaced family in Sudan.\u00a0 \u00a9 FAO\/Eilaf Abdelbasit<\/p><\/div>\n

5 Sep 2024 – The number of people experiencing catastrophic hunger has surged more than twofold in 2024, due largely to the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Sudan, according to new figures released by the UN today.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

The updated Global Report on Food Crises<\/a> reveals that nearly two million people are now grappling with the most critical level of food insecurity, classified as Phase 5 on the global IPC scale<\/a>, which tracks acute hunger.<\/p>\n

This level represents an \u201cextreme lack of food and exhaustion of coping capacities,\u201d with a sharply increased risk of acute malnutrition and death.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs well as causing widespread acute malnutrition and death in the short term, it has major human, social and economic impacts in the long term<\/strong>,\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n

The report also found that acute malnutrition among children and women in crisis-affected countries remained \u201cpersistently high,\u201d with many families unable to afford a healthy diet.<\/p>\n

It also noted that improved harvests helped reduce hunger in several countries, including Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Guatemala, Lebanon and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The report was prepared by a consortium of UN agencies, including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO<\/a>), World Food Programme (WFP<\/a>), UN Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF<\/a>) and the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM<\/a>), together with humanitarian partners.<\/p>\n

Complete collapse in Gaza<\/h2>\n

V\u00edctor Aguayo, UNICEF Director of Child Nutrition, described the situation for children affected by severe malnutrition.<\/p>\n

Briefing journalists at the UN Headquarters in New York, he described the situation in Gaza<\/a> as one of the most severe food and nutrition crises in history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nutrition situation in Gaza is one of the most severe that we have ever seen<\/strong>\u2026it is important to remember that the nearly half of Gaza\u2019s population suffering from this devastation are children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Having returned from the enclave last week, he said that the impact of the war and severe restrictions on humanitarian response have led to a \u201ccomplete collapse\u201d of food, health and protection systems, with catastrophic consequences.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Most<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a9 FAO\/Yousef Alrozzi<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Most of the agricultural land in the Gaza Strip has been destroyed by the conflict.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Risk of famine is real<\/h2>\n

\u201cThe fact is that the diets of children in Gaza are extremely poor. It is estimated that over 90 per cent of children are eating at best two types of food per day for weeks or months<\/strong>, in the context of very severe\u2026lack of access to safe water and sanitation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Estimates suggest that more than 50,000 children need immediate treatment for acute malnutrition, requiring medical professionals and nutrition workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked through markets and neighborhoods, or what is left of markets and neighborhoods\u2026there is no doubt in my mind that the risk of famine and a large-scale severe nutrition crisis in Gaza is real<\/strong>,\u201d he emphasized, calling for an immediate ceasefire and sustained humanitarian access.<\/p>\n

Rapid deterioration in Sudan<\/h2>\n

M\u00e1ximo Torero, Chief Economist at FAO, highlighted the rapid deterioration of food security in Sudan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ongoing conflict between rival militaries and limited humanitarian access have led to famine in some internally displaced people (IDP) camps and risked further spread. The situation is not expected improve at least until October.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conflict continues to drive a rapid deterioration of food security<\/strong>, with about 26 per cent more people estimated to face high levels of acute food insecurity during the June to September lead period compared to June last year, reaching 25.6 million people classified in crisis or worse,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

This crisis also affects neighbouring countries, including Chad and South Sudan, which are hosting a large number of Sudanese refugees while dealing with their own conflict- and climate-induced crises, he added.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Trucks<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a9 WFP\/Sylvain Barral<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Trucks carrying vital food supplies cross from Chad into Sudan via the Adre border crossing.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Access and funding<\/h2>\n

Arif Husain, WFP Chief Economist, underscored the growing global burden of food crises, rising from 90 million people in 2023 to an estimated 99 million this year.<\/p>\n

He emphasized the need for both access and funding to address the crisis effectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first is access \u2013 physical access to people in need, safe and sustained access,\u201d he said, adding \u201cthe second is funding to provide assistance in a sustained manner, until the time there is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have one, it is not enough. If you have only access or if you have only money, that is not enough. You need both<\/em>,<\/strong>\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

“Whether it is war or whether it is climate, unless we address the root causes, we must not expect the needs to come down.”<\/strong><\/em>
\n\u2013 Arif Husain, WFP Chief Economist<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Address root causes<\/h2>\n

Mr. Husain also underscored the need to address the root causes that are driving hunger and malnutrition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it is war or whether it is climate, unless we address the root causes, we must not expect the needs to come down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, he said that while experts and humanitarians know about the situations noted in the report, there are many other hotspots in similar circumstances, but where little information or data is available, such as in Zambia.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we cannot say that there is a famine there because we have no data. So access \u2013 to get the information \u2013 is also critical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go to Original – news.un.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5 Sep 2024 – The number of people experiencing catastrophic hunger has surged more than twofold in 2024, due largely to the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Sudan, according to new figures released by the UN today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":273202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[237,1161,1854,2242,87,865,1966,866,88,2416,767,427,1102,2819,128,124,70,965,481],"class_list":["post-273201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-nations","tag-africa","tag-arms-industry","tag-crimes-against-humanity","tag-famine","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-hunger","tag-indigenous-rights","tag-israel","tag-israeli-occupation","tag-middle-east","tag-palestine","tag-public-health","tag-south-sudan","tag-sudan","tag-united-nations","tag-usa","tag-war-crimes","tag-warfare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273203,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273201\/revisions\/273203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}