Gazans face severe food crisis as global hunger worsens: UN report

By Tugba Altun and Busranur Koca

ANKARA (AA) – The Gaza Strip, where 80% of the population is currently internally displaced, has experienced world's worst food crisis, according to a new UN report.

The "2024 Food Security and Nutrition in the World" report, jointly prepared by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Program (WFP), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and World Health Organization (WHO), painted a grim picture of global hunger and food security.

The report reveals that between 713 million and 757 million people worldwide were undernourished last year, with an average of 733 million facing hunger, implying that one in every 11 people struggled with hunger.

Hunger levels rose from 2022 to 2023 in most parts of West Asia, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa. In Africa, the percentage of the population struggled with hunger increased to 20.4%. In Asia, it rose to 8.1%, in Latin America and the Caribbean to 6.2%, and in Oceania to 7.3%.

By 2030, an estimated 582 million people will be chronically undernourished, with nearly half of them living in Africa.

Last year, 2.33 billion people worldwide faced moderate or severe food insecurity, with more than 864 million sometimes going without food for an entire day or longer.

Moderate or severe food insecurity in Africa was nearly double the global average, at 58%. In Asia, it was 24.8%, in Latin America and the Caribbean 28.2%, and in Oceania 26.8%.

Food insecurity remained nearly unchanged in Africa, Asia, North America, and Europe from 2022 to 2023, but it worsened in Oceania. Although women were more affected by food insecurity than men, the gap between the two groups began to narrow in 2022 and continued to decrease in 2023.

The report, however, shows that adult obesity has steadily increased over the last decade, from 12.1% (591 million people) in 2012 to 15.8% (881 million people) in 2022. This number is projected to top 1.2 billion by 2030.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), food insecurity is divided into five stages. The first two levels do not require immediate humanitarian assistance, while phase 3 is called a "crisis," phase 4 an "emergency," and phase 5 "famine/catastrophe."

The 2024 Global Report on Food Crises states that 282 million people in 59 countries faced "high levels" of severe food insecurity in 2023. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia had the highest rates of severe food insecurity. The Gaza Strip, South Sudan, Yemen, Syria, and Haiti had the largest share of their populations faced severe food insecurity.

- Gaza Strip: Food crisis epicenter

The Gaza Strip's entire population suffered from severe food insecurity. This rate represented more than half of the population in South Sudan, Yemen, and Syria, as well as nearly half in Haiti.

In 2023, more than 705,000 people in Burkina Faso, the Gaza Strip, Mali, Somalia, and South Sudan faced "catastrophic levels" of severe food insecurity, with 576,000 of them in Gaza alone.

According to the IPC, the Gaza Strip faced the "most severe food crisis." By the end of 2023, the entire 2.2 million population of Gaza was classified as in third-stage "crisis" conditions or worse.

According to an IPC report released on March 18, more than a quarter of Gaza's population faced severe food insecurity at "catastrophic" levels. It warned that if conflicts and restrictions on humanitarian aid continue, this situation could threaten half the population (1.1 million people) by July 2024.

- Sudan: Biggest internal displacement crisis

Sudan’s crisis during the dry season from June to September 2023 left more than 20 million people in "crisis" conditions or worse, causing extraordinarily high levels of severe food insecurity.

Sudan, which has become the world's largest internal displacement crisis, is home to 6.3 million people experienced "emergency" levels of food insecurity.

In Haiti, where conflict, violence, and internal displacement have worsened the food crisis, approximately 5 million people, or half the population, faced severe food insecurity at "crisis" levels or higher. This included 1.8 million people experienced "emergency" levels during the famine from March to June 2023.

In South Sudan, an estimated 7.8 million people, or 63% of the population, faced high-level severe food insecurity at the third stage during the famine from April to July 2023. This included 2.9 million at the fourth stage "emergency" and 43,000 at the fifth stage "catastrophe."

Approximately 13 million people in Syria and 18 million in Yemen also struggled with high levels of severe food insecurity.

- Financing gaps in combating food insecurity

To address undernourishment by 2030 and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, an additional $176 billion to $3.975 trillion will be required. An additional $90 billion is needed to meet the global target for reducing undernourishment. The cost estimates for policies to increase affordability for millions to have a healthy diet and reduce undernourishment increased sharply to $15.4 trillion.

Without closing this funding gap, millions of people will remain hungry, unable to access food, and undernourished through 2030 and beyond. Failure to support initiatives to eliminate food insecurity will result in high social, economic, and environmental costs.

Of the 119 countries examined, 63% of low- and middle-income countries have limited or moderate access to financing, while only 37% have high access.

In most cases, the most vulnerable countries faced structural constraints in increasing their budgets for hunger and food insecurity.