Every minute, 11 people die of starvation: Oxfam | Coronavirus pandemic News

About 155 million people worldwide live in crisis food insecurity, 20 million more than last year, according to a new report.

Eleven people die every minute from starvation, according to a new report by Oxfam. In addition, the number of people with similar hunger conditions has increased sixfold in the last year.

The report “The Hunger Virus Multiplies” was released on Friday (PDF) said the starvation death exceeds that of COVID-19, killing about seven people a minute.

“The statistics are staggering, but we have to remember that these figures are made up of individuals with unimaginable suffering. One person is too many,” said Abby Maxman, Oxfam’s American president and CEO.

According to charity, 155 million people worldwide now live in food insecurity in crisis or worse, about 20 million more than last year. Two-thirds of them are hungry because their country is in a military conflict.

As of mid-June, the number of people affected by the worst phase of famine was 521,814 in Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen, up from 84,500 last year, up more than 500 percent, according to data from around the world. 2021 Food Crisis Report (PDF).

The group identified areas such as Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Afghanistan and Venezuela, where the current food crisis has worsened as a result of the outbreak of the pandemic and its economic consequences.

Oxfam said the three main causes of severe hunger are COVID-19, climate crisis and conflict. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the war has been the biggest cause of famine, pushing nearly 100 million people to 23 countries in 23 countries to worsen food shortages.

“Instead of fighting the pandemic, the warring parties fought against each other, inflicting the final blow too often on the millions of people plagued by weather disasters and economic accidents,” Maxman said.

“Hunger continues to be used as a weapon of war, depriving civilians of food and water and preventing humanitarian aid. People cannot live safely or find food when markets are bombed and crops and livestock are destroyed. ”

According to the charity, global military spending has increased by $ 51 billion during the pandemic – a figure that exceeds at least six times what the United Nations needs to stop hunger.

He called on governments to continue to create a “catastrophic hunger” for the conflict and for relief agencies to act in conflict areas and reach out to those in need. He also called on donor countries to fund “immediate and complete” efforts to alleviate hunger.

Meanwhile, the global warming and economic impact of the pandemic have led to a 40 percent increase in global food prices, the highest in more than 10 years. That increase has significantly helped drive tens of millions more people to starve, the report said.

Oxfam’s analysis comes ahead of a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on global food security, which will be published on Monday.