Warfare, the pandemic, and extreme weather pushed an additional 20 million people into acute food insecurity in the past year, driving the worldwide total to 155 million, said the Global Network Against Food Crises on Wednesday. The total for acute food insecurity, defined as food deprivation that threatens lives or livelihoods, was the highest in five years.
Conditions were worst in Burkina Faso, South Sudan, and Yemen, where 133,000 people needed immediate help “to avert widespread death and a collapse of livelihoods,” said the report. An additional 28 million people in 38 nations were said to be one step from starvation.
Roughly two of every three people facing acute food insecurity, or 98 million, were in Africa. But Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, and Haiti were also on the list of the 10 worst food crises.
“One year after the declaration of the Covid-19 pandemic, the outlook for 2021 and beyond is grim,” said the report. “Conflict, pandemic-related restrictions fueling economic hardship, and the persistent threat of adverse weather conditions will likely drive food crises.”
Armed conflict was the primary reason 100 million people faced acute food insecurity, the report said. Economic shocks, often due to the pandemic, affected 40 million people, and extreme weather was the main reason 15 million people faced acute food insecurity.
The report is available here.