In 2023, 282 million people experienced acute hunger, with Gaza suffering the most: report

Washington According to UN agencies and development organizations, food insecurity increased globally in 2023, with 282 million people experiencing severe hunger as a result of hostilities, mostly in Sudan and Gaza.
According to the most recent worldwide report on food crises from the Food Security Information Network (FSIN), the number of individuals experiencing acute food insecurity increased by 24 million compared with 2022 as a result of extreme weather events and economic shocks.

Produced for an international alliance consisting of UN agencies, the European Union, and governmental and non-governmental entities, the research described the global picture as “bleak” for this year.

Acute food insecurity is characterized as a situation in which a population experiences food deprivation to the point that it endangers lives or livelihoods, regardless of the origin or duration of the deprivation. 2023 was the fifth year in a row that this figure has increased.

The enlarged geographic scope of the study and the worsening circumstances in 12 nations were major contributors to the rise seen last year.

Fleur Wouterse, deputy head of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization’s emergencies division, told AFP that there was a “marked deterioration in key food crisis contexts such as Sudan and the Gaza Strip” and that more geographical regions had “new or intensified shocks.”

Approximately 700,000 individuals, 600,000 of whom were in Gaza, were in danger of famine in the previous year; this number has subsequently increased to 1.1 million in the conflict-torn Palestinian enclave.

Children Children going hungry

According to Wouterse, there are now 282 million people who are food insecure worldwide, up from 108 million in the Global Food Crisis Network’s 2016 estimate.

She said, “In the meantime, the affected population share within the affected areas has doubled from 11% to 22%.”

Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Syria, and Yemen are all experiencing protracted, severe food crises.

In the report’s preface, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “Children are starving to death in a world of plenty.”

“War, climate chaos and a cost-of-living crisis, combined with inadequate action, mean that almost 300 million people will face an acute food crisis in 2023.”

“Funding is not keeping pace with need,” he said.

This is particularly true now that the price of providing help has increased.

Wouterse emphasized that assistance may “rapidly” ease the situation in Gaza or Sudan, for example, provided humanitarian access to the regions is permitted. However, progress for 2024 would depend on the resolution of conflicts, he added.

Droughts and floods

Political unrest and decreased agricultural output were the main causes of Haiti’s worsening circumstances, according to Wouterse, “where armed groups have seized agricultural land and stolen crops in the breadbasket of the Artibonite Valley.”

She continued by saying that a catastrophic drought in West and Southern Africa might possibly result from the El Nino weather phenomena.

The research claims that severe hunger has been caused mostly by war or instability in 20 countries or territories, affecting 135 million people.

Acute food insecurity affected 72 million people in 18 countries due to extreme weather catastrophes, including floods and droughts, while 75 million people in 21 countries were affected by economic shocks.

“Decreasing global food prices did not transmit to low-income, import-dependent countries,” the research said.

rising debt levels also “limited government options to mitigate the effects of high prices” at the same time.

Positively, the survey concluded that, in 17 nations, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ukraine, the situation improved in 2023.