hunger crisis

The threat of “COVID famines” and widespread extreme hunger are setting off every alarm bell within the international community, but so far sluggish funding of the UN's appeal is hampering humanitarian agencies’ efforts to deliver urgent assistance to people in need.

Thousands of people in Yemen could be dying from undetected cases of cholera because COVID-19 has overwhelmed the country’s health facilities and people are too frightened to seek treatment for fear of the virus, Oxfam said today.

The number of coronavirus cases in Yemen is likely to peak in the coming weeks while the heaviest rains are expected in August which could deepen a hidden cholera crisis.

 

Reacting to the IPC announcement on the levels of hunger in the south of Yemen and their forecast for the months ahead, Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director, Muhsin Siddiquey said: “This new data shows how bleak the situation is for the millions of Yemenis struggling with hunger as conflict has decimated infrastructure, restricted food imports, and led to mass unemployment."

 

As many as 12,000 people could die per day by the end of the year as a result of hunger linked to COVID-19, potentially more than could die from the disease, warned Oxfam in a new briefing published today. The global observed daily mortality rate for COVID-19 reached its highest recorded point in April 2020 at just over 10,000 deaths per day.

40 million people in Southern Africa are at risk of increased hunger and poverty due to the double threat of the coronavirus and consecutive climatic shocks, warned Oxfam today. 

The “Global Report on Food Crises”, released today by the Food Security Information Network, says that more than 113 million people across 53 countries experienced acute hunger and required urgent food, nutrition and livelihoods assistance in 2018. This is a human-made crisis caused by conflict, climate change, and a broken global food system, says Oxfam France’s Executive Director Cécile Duflot.

Africa's Sahel region currently faces the world’s fastest rise in food insecurity – with an increase of more than 13 million people over the last 11 years.

In response to the Saudi Arabia-led coalition's announcement to reopen Hodeidah port and Sanaa airport to humanitarian assistance, Oxfam says this is an empty gesture while millions of Yemenis sees their lives threatened by the two-week blockade on the country. 

More than 335,000 people continue to go hungry in the Lake Region of Chad – a place where only ten doctors are currently working and the international community has only funded $40m of a $121m humanitarian appeal.