For the sixth consecutive year, the number of people facing “high levels of acute food insecurity” has risen, reaching 295.3 million according to the latest Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC).
The figure represents almost a quarter – 22.6% – of the population of 53 countries analysed by GRFC experts.
“Intensifying conflict, increasing geopolitical tensions, global economic uncertainty and profound funding cuts are deepening acute food insecurity,” the report said.
People facing the most chronic lack of food – as categorised by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – more than doubled last year.
More than 95% of them lived in the Gaza Strip or Sudan, although Haiti, Mali and South Sudan had significant populations suffering similar food shortages.
The category – described as “catastrophe” by the IPC – is characterised by starvation, death, destitution and high rates of acute malnutrition.
In Sudan, the worsening civil war led to famine being officially declared with more than 24 million facing acute food insecurity.
Conditions also deteriorated within the Gaza Strip, with experts last year stating that half the population was projected to be suffering the IPC’s “catastrophe” scenario.
“Following the closure of all crossings into the Gaza Strip in early March, and the collapse of the two-month ceasefire, food access has been severely restricted,” the report said.
The warnings were corroborated on Monday when the latest report by the IPC said Gaza’s population of about 2.1 million Palestinians was at “critical risk” of famine as the Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid continued.
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