Catastrophic hunger doubles in 2024: UN report

WAM, Philippine News Agency

The updated Global Report on Food Crises revealed that nearly 2 million people are now grappling with the most critical level of food insecurity, classified as Phase 5 on the global IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) scale, which tracks acute hunger. (Shutterstock photo)

NEW YORK – The United Nations experts have raised alarms over the increasing severity of global food crises, revealing that the number of people facing catastrophic hunger has more than doubled in the past year, according to new figures released by the UN on Thursday

The updated Global Report on Food Crises revealed that nearly 2 million people are now grappling with the most critical level of food insecurity, classified as Phase 5 on the global IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) scale, which tracks acute hunger.

This level represents an “extreme lack of food and exhaustion of coping capacities,” with a sharply increased risk of acute malnutrition and death.

In a press briefing on the 2024 Global Report on Food Crises, Máximo Torero, Chief Economist at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said “the number of people facing or projected to face catastrophic phase IPC, Phase 5, more than doubled from 705,000 in five countries and territories in 2023 to 1.9 million in four countries or territories in 2024.”

He highlighted that this marked the highest levels recorded in the Global Food Crises report, driven by conflicts, as well as El Niño-induced drought and rising domestic food prices.

Adding to the urgency, Arif Husain, Chief Economist at the World Food Program (WFP), underscored the growing global burden of food crises, rising from 90 million people in 2023 to an estimated 99 million this year.

He emphasized the need for both access and funding to address the crisis effectively.

“The first is access – physical access to people in need, safe and sustained access,” he said, adding “the second is funding to provide assistance in a sustained manner, until the time there is.

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Victor Aguayo, Director of Child Nutrition and Development at UNICEF, focused on the plight of children, warning that “child wasting is at critical levels in eight countries.” (WAM)