Mayo aid worker issues plea over global hunger crisis

If the world doesn’t pay attention, the 811 million people struggling to find food in the world’s hungriest places will become a forgotten statistic.

That according to Dualta Roughneen, head of programmes at Plan International Ireland

Mayo man Roughneen said the media spotlight on Ukraine must widen to bring the worsening global hunger crisis out of the shadows, a crisis affecting more people than the entire combined population of Europe. It will be too late if resources are not increased.

"From Lebanon to Somalia to Niger, millions of people are struggling to find enough food to feed themselves and their families at even a basic level,” said Roughneen, a native of Kiltimagh.

“And as the devastating conflict in Ukraine escalates, one of its affects has been a rapid increase in food prices and fuel costs, which can only worsen the global hunger situation.

“We really are at a tipping point for hunger. If life-saving humanitarian assistance is not urgently stepped up, the reality is, 300,000 people could starve to death every single day and Humanitarian organisations are faced with the impossible choice between feeding the hungry and feeding the starving. We must act now.”

With spiralling costs of food and fuel, there is now a real risk of cuts to life-saving humanitarian assistance, at a time when it is most needed, warned Plan International, adding that it is important that donors do not cut funding at this critical time.

In Somalia alone, 350,000 children are now at risk of dying from starvation, according to UN projections.

Unless humanitarian aid is urgently stepped up, it is feared that parts of the country will face famine within weeks.

Even prior to the Ukraine conflict, the global hunger crisis has been steadily worsening over past months due to escalating food prices, ongoing conflicts, climate shocks such as floods or drought, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The United Nations Security Council will have a focus in May on the global hunger crisis, with food insecurity prominent on their agenda, and while a pledging event in Geneva recently for the Horn of Africa is said to have raised $1 billion, many humanitarian agencies believe this is an overstatement – and all agree more funding is needed.

Some 811 million people are struggling to find food and at least 45 million children are suffering from wasting, which is the most visible and severe form of malnutrition, and potentially life-threatening.

That’s almost equivalent to the entire population of Spain.

In the world’s hungriest countries, children too young to walk are surviving on one meal a day, sometimes less.

Entire classrooms are empty because students are too hungry to go to school, while some families don’t know what or when they’ll eat next.

As a result of school closures alone, 204 million children globally are currently missing out on meals.

“We all have the same rights,” added Roughneen, “and it is important we have the same compassion for the people caught up in these disasters, as with the Ukraine conflict. That means everyone, humanitarian organisations, our donors and supporters.”

According to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, women especially girls, are particularly badly affected by the hunger crisis, and women and girls account for 70% of the world’s hungry.

When food is scarce, girls often eat less and eat last.

When families and communities come under strain, girls are more likely than boys to be taken out of school, and will be at risk of child, early and forced marriage, gender-based violence, sexual exploitation, and unwanted pregnancy.

Roughneen continued: “Adolescent girls in Burkina Faso, Mali and South Sudan have told us that they are more likely to be married at a young age if their families are struggling financially.

"Girls and women who have fled the conflict in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, have told us that losing their income has forced them to resort to sexual exploitation to survive, sometimes for as little as US$0.16.

“We must invest in anticipatory action,” he added.

“Waiting for a famine to be declared means knowing that people are going to die. We need to work on food security before it becomes a catastrophic emergency.”

All too often, girls are forced to miss or drop out of school, damaging their future prospects and placing them at greater risk of gender-based violence and harmful practices, such as early marriage or female genital mutilation/cutting.