Rome, 4 March 2024 (TDI): Hunger caused as a result of conflict has pushed 158 million without access to food. Conflict pushes families from their homes, ruins economies, destroys infrastructure, and makes food inaccessible to find or afford.
Ending world hunger is one of the most paramount challenges of recent times.
There is enough food on this planet to feed people, however, to achieve the goal of zero hunger as engrained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and particularly in the SDG 2, remains highly unlikely because of a mix of conflict, climate change, disasters and structural poverty and inequality.
Moreover, in the past two years, the resultant socioeconomic impact of the COVID 19 pandemic, has sent millions of people into the brink of hunger pushing people toward a more elevated food insecurity dilemma and has sent up the cost of reaching to people in need.
Some of the worst conflict zones in the world has driven people to survive without food.
Some of these places include Gaza, where a growing conflict has made it impossible for people to find, store or prepare food. With borders shut off, people are left without water and electricity, as well.
Furthermore, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 26.2 million people have been left hungry on an escalated level, leaving it to become the world’s largest hunger crisis. This has happened because of decades of civil war leaving people dead or displaced.
In Yemen, 16.2 million people are unaware about where their next meal would come from. This number also comprises 2.3 million children under the age of 5 who are in need of treatment for their malnourishment. In addition to this number, 400,000 children are at risk of dying without treatment.
Shedding light on Syria, 10 years of war has pushed many Syrians toward hunger and poverty. Around 7 million people are displaced within the country with 5.6 million people having fled to neighboring countries.
In Northeast Nigeria, 4.4 million people are experiencing acute hunger in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
Displacement, Destabilization and Malnutrition
Ending world hunger is significant, but there are certain parameters which leave people with insufficient or no food.
These include destabilization, where when violence takes place, it sends shockwaves through a region. This leads to a crumbled infrastructure, blockade of imports, inflation, devaluation of currencies, and loss of jobs. This leads to people finding it extremely difficult to find food.
Another reason is displacement. When people don’t feel safe at home and cannot make ends meet, they are often left with no choice but to leave. They only bring with them what they can carry. With resources not being available, finding food becomes difficult.
A third reason is malnutrition. An amalgamation of destabilization and displacement leads to hunger which is especially more severe for children. A child who lives in a country of conflict, is twice as likely to be malnourished and not be enrolled at school.
Also Read: WFP warns of famine and starvation in Gaza
Multilateral Solution to Hunger
The World Food Program initiated its Strategic Plan into action by putting into framework many multiple and wide ranging partnerships. WFP worked with a wide range of partners to deliver emergency food, cash and nutrition help, providing logistic services and reinforce national social protection systems.
WFP has worked together with government agencies, the UN, multiple international and local NGOs and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and has been able to provide food and nutrition assistance to around 160 million people.
Moreover, after the war in Ukraine in February 2022, the World Food Program worked alongside government authorities and over 180 humanitarian partners, to start off with distribution in a couple of weeks. WFP along with other organizations was able to provide food and cash assistance equivalent to 1.3 billion meals.
Also, G7 leaders that met in Germany in June of 2022, provided an additional USD 4.5 billion to safeguard the world’s vulnerable people from hunger and malnutrition. Along with this, the Global Alliance for Food Security, set up a Global Food and Nutrition Security Dashboard in November to accelerate a rapid response.
To end the historic impact of hunger, the WFP would work with UN, NGOs and Member States from every place on earth. Ending world hunger has become a continuing reason behind the WFP and other multilateral organizations to provide assistance to countries most impacted by conflict.
