“Biblical” Hunger Awaits Central Asia

The threat of hunger could reach «biblical proportions» due to the lasting impacts the pandemic is likely to have around the globe. This was reported by the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) David Beasley.

He noted that, based on the organization’s data, the world could face a famine of «biblical proportions» following the pandemic. In order to prevent yet another catastrophe, the WFP would have to find nearly $5 billion in funding over the next six months.

«All the data that we have, including the WFP’s projection of an 80% increase in the number of food insecure people, […] points to a real disaster,» said Beasley in an interview.

According to the program head, the number of starving people in Latin America alone will increase by 269%. In East and Central Asia, the number of starving people is projected to increase by 135% and in South Africa by 90%.

Beasley stressed that world hunger is already at «sky-high levels» and would require urgent action in order to avoid mass starvation and the suffering of those people and children forced to face the long-term consequences of malnutrition.

As a reminder, earlier this year the United Nations projected an increase in the number of malnourished persons as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. That data was announced in the annual UN report, ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’.