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Hunger causing death of one person every four seconds

The number of people dying due to starvation has doubled since 2019.

In an astounding revelation during the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York, some 238 NGOs from 75 countries came together and presented an open letter in which they informed that as per estimations one person is dying due to hunger every four seconds.

The organizations expressed their displeasure at the soaring hunger levels and recommendations for action. Approximately as many as 345 million people of the world are now experiencing acute hunger, the number has supposedly more than doubled since 2019.

In the letter it was mentioned that despite promises from world leaders to never allow famine again in the 21st century, famine is once more imminent in Somalia. Around the world, 50 million people are on the brink of starvation in 45 countries. The letter called for decisive international action to end the spiralling global hunger crisis.

The conversion of the number of deaths vis a vis seconds was based on the fact that roughly 19,700 people are reported to be dying due to starvation every single day, translating to the figure of a death every four seconds.

Mohanna Ahmed Ali Eljabaly of the Yemen Family Care Association said, “It is abysmal that with all the technology in agriculture and harvesting techniques today we are still talking about famine in the 21st century as this is not about one country or one continent and hunger never only has one cause rather this is about the injustice of the whole of humanity.” He added, “We must not wait a moment longer to focus both on providing immediate lifesaving food and long-term support so people can take charge of their futures and provide for themselves and their families.”

According to CARE which is a humanitarian organization, a 32-year-old mother living with her four children in a displacement camp in the Somali region of Ethiopia told that she has no access to water or food and has a hopeless life. She said, “my children are starving, they are on the verge of death. Unless they get some food, I am afraid they will die.”

The issue has worsened due to multiple factors including the repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic followed by the ever-growing inflation and of course the Russia-Ukraine conflict which has further shot up global food prices.

A few months ago Oxfam and Save the Children in a report published that one person is likely to be dying of hunger every 48 seconds in drought-ravaged Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. The situation has only worsened where the worst affected are the poor income nations with Africa being hit the most followed by Asia. Although the first world nations have remained aloof of the scare till now, the cognizance about the looming crisis should to be taken sooner than later.

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