Nearly 100 million people in southern Africa, Asia and Latin America face food and water shortages and are also vulnerable to diseases such as the Zika virus, says the Guardian, summarizing reports by international aid agencies and governments.
“New figures from the UN’s World Food Program say 40 million people in rural areas and 9 million in urban centers who live in the drought-affected parts of Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Malawi and Swaziland will need food assistance in the next year,” says the newspaper. Another UN agency says 10 million people need food in Ethiopia as do 2.8 million in Guatemala and Honduras. The agency, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says millions more people in Asia and the Pacific regions have been affected by unusually hot weather, water shortages and forest fires heightened by the El Nino weather pattern.
“El Niño conditions, which stem from a natural warming of Pacific Ocean waters, lead to droughts, floods and more frequent cyclones across the world every few years,” says the Guardian. “This year’s event is said by meteorologists to be the worst in 35 years and is now peaking. Although it is expected to decline in strength over the next six months, its effects on farming, health and livelihoods in developing countries could last two years or more because of failed harvests and prolonged flooding.”