WFP calls on G7 to keep focus on hunger crises in Sudan, Haiti, Sahel

On May 16, 2023 85

Addis Ababa, May 16, 2023 (FBC) – The G7’s strong commitment to global food security in 2022 must be maintained in 2023 as new crises in Sudan, Haiti and the Sahel push more people into hunger, the UN World Food Programme said today, just days before G7 leaders were due to meet in Japan.

Some 345 million people are currently facing high levels of food insecurity, according to WFP analysis, an increase of almost 200 million since early 2020. Of these, 43 million are just one step away from famine. Meanwhile, WFP has recently been forced to cut food rations in operations in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Palestine as needs outpace available funding. More cuts are looming in Somalia and Chad.

Fighting in Sudan has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and pushed millions into hunger.

WFP estimates that between 2 and 2.5 million additional people will become acutely food insecure in coming months as a direct result of ongoing fighting, taking the total in the country to a record 19 million.

In Haiti, hunger is tightening its grip as insecurity, violence and deepening economic woes drive food insecure Haitians further into crisis.

A record 4.9 million people in the country are estimated to be facing acute hunger, around 45% of the population.

Similarly, in the Sahel region of Africa, new outbreaks of violence in places such as Burkina Faso are driving hunger among fleeing populations as well as those whose lives and livelihoods have been upended by conflict.

WFP calls on G7 countries, all of whom increased funding in 2022, to continue funding food assistance for the hundreds of millions of people affected by the global food crisis and the millions new to hunger since last year.

It is also calling for political support for other actions which would help ease the crisis These include working for the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, ensuring adequate supplies of fertilizer and supporting programmes to increase smallholder farmers’ production.