From Haiti to Zambia, the world’s hunger hot spots will see rising food insecurity in the months ahead, said a United Nations report, urging prompt action to mitigate the crises. “We must … act now to stop these hot spots from igniting a firestorm of hunger,” said Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Program.
“Immediate humanitarian action delivered at scale will be critical to prevent further starvation and death — particularly in Mali, Palestine, South Sudan, the Sudan, and Haiti,” said the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization in a joint release. They said emergency agriculture assistance to expand local food production was needed along with food aid.
Mali, Palestine, South Sudan, and Sudan require the most urgent attention, said the report. It said Haiti had been added to the list because of escalating violence. “Conflict is the primary driver of hunger in all these areas,” said the UN agencies. “All hot spots of the highest concern have communities facing or projected to face starvation, or are at risk of sliding towards catastrophic conditions, given they have already emergency levels of food insecurity and are facing severe aggravating factors.”
Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Syria, and Yemen were “hot spots of very high concern,” with large numbers of people facing food shortages, said the UN agencies.
Acute food insecurity was likely to decline in Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, said the report.