COVID-19 is deepening the hunger crisis in the world’s hunger hotspots and creating new epicentres of hunger across the globe. While governments must act to contain the spread of this deadly disease, Oxfam is also calling for urgent action to end this hunger crisis and build fairer, more robust, and sustainable food systems.

In our deeply unequal world, millions of people are living in, and dying from, hunger every year. Coronavirus has added fuel to the fire of this growing hunger crisis. If we don't act now, up to 12,000 people per day could die from hunger linked to the social and economic impacts of the pandemic before the end of the year. Your help is urgently needed.

East and Central Africa are in the grip of a devastating food crisis. More than 33 million people are in need of humanitarian aid as climate extremes have caused widespread food shortages. Millions more lives are at risk as the region gets infested by locust swarms which represent an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods. Oxfam is on the ground, providing lifesaving food, clean water and sanitation.

Advancing the right of people living in poverty to sustainable livelihoods has been a cornerstone of Oxfam’s work for many decades. Our goal is to enable millions of women and communities to become more resilient to a changing climate, and to secure access to the land and natural resources on which they depend.

Women farmers play a central role in small-scale agriculture. But they are held back by barriers that prevent them from feeding their families and reinvesting in their livelihoods. A real support would protect their rights, boost their productivity and unleash their potential to fight hunger, poverty and climate change.

We are providing clean water to people in Ethiopia stricken by drought, and helping them manage their livestock. It's vital the international community commits funding now to stop a major disaster.

In the middle of 2011 a massive food crisis hit East Africa and the first famine of the 21st century was declared in Somalia.