APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The UN World Food Programme called on G7 leaders to enhance commitment to address food crises occurring in Sudan, Haiti and the Sahel region where more people are being pushed into hunger.
“Last year, G7 leadership achieved life-saving results in the fight against hunger. Millions of people received much needed support and countries like Somalia were pulled back from the brink of famine,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain on Tuesday in a statement.
Unfortunately, the global food crisis hasn’t gone away and situations like Sudan and Haiti are adding fuel to the fire,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain.
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.
MG/as/APA