UN released a report on famine and poverty worldwide, 51 countries suffered these tragedies last year

Leer en español: Más de 120 millones de personas pasaron hambre en el 2017

124 million people suffered from hunger in 2017; this is the figure recorded in the report that the United Nations (UN) presented to the world, in collaboration with other associated media, which emphasizes that this number will continue to grow because of the food crises that the world currently endures due to armed confrontations. The report highlights that the population suffering from acute famine increased by 11 million.

The UN pointed out that the food crisis increased in a considerable way during the last three years. For instance, in 2015 there were 80 million people suffering from hunger, in 2016 they were 108 million, and in 2017 the figure reached 124 million; in addition, the list of affected countries has also been increasing, for in 2016 there were 48 and now there are 51 territories that have food crises.

José Graziano Da Silva, general director of the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO), explained that 2 out of 3 people in famine come from countries with protracted crises, in other words, from nations whose governments face the issue of famine as a secondary problem.

According to the report, the countries that suffered the most from lack of food in 2017 were Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan, in Africa, and Yemen, in the Middle East. These countries are the most affected because they are places where armed confrontations take place often and it is difficult for humanitarian aid to arrive. This is what happens with the terrorist group Boko Haram, in the case of Nigeria; in South Sudan and Somalia, due to governmental disputes and the absence of political and territorial control; and in Yemen, because of the military intervention and military maneuvers against Saudi Arabia and Al-Qaeda.

The report also emphasizes that natural disasters, such as droughts, caused considerable food problems in 23 countries, affecting more than 39 million people. The territories most affected by this type of disaster were Bangladesh, in Asia, and Ethiopia, Malawi and Zimbabwe, in Africa.

The UN said it is important be on alert during 2018 for the countries that currently have conflicts and that can trigger new food crises, including Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Syria, Libya, Mali and Niger, without forgetting those mentioned above, especially Yemen, which at the moment has 17 million people starving. To this statement, the European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Neven Mimica, added a call for private entities to help by financing the countries that go through these food crises, and he stressed the need to find appropriate solutions to the different conflicts in order to end with the root causes of the problem.

Latin American Post | David García Pedraza

Translated from "Más de 120 millones de personas pasaron hambre en el 2017"