A recent United Nations report has projected that acute food insecurity is likely to worsen in both magnitude and severity across 18 hunger “hotspots,” including Nigeria.
The report highlights the urgent need for assistance to prevent famine in Gaza and Sudan, as well as to address worsening hunger crises in Haiti, Mali, and South Sudan.
It also warns of the ongoing impacts of El Niño and the impending risk of La Niña, which could lead to extreme climate events disrupting lives and livelihoods.
“Since the previous edition of the Hunger Hotspots report (October 2023), the Central African Republic, Lebanon, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Zambia have joined Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, Somalia and Zimbabwe in the list of hunger hotspots, where acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further during the outlook period,” the report stated.
The UN report also indicated that numerous hotspots were grappling with escalating hunger crises, emphasising the alarming compounding effect of simultaneous and overlapping shocks on acute food insecurity.
It pointed out that conflict, climate extremities, and economic shocks were persistently pushing susceptible households into food crises.
The report cautioned that 2023 could potentially be the first year since 2010 to see a decrease in humanitarian funding compared to the previous year, although it still represented the second-highest level of funding ever for humanitarian assistance.
The report further stated, “The daunting prospects highlighted in this report should serve as a wake-up call to all of us. We need to spearhead the shift from responding to crises after they occur to more proactive anticipatory approaches, prevention and resilience building to help vulnerable communities cope with upcoming shocks.
“Acting ahead of crises can save lives, reduce food shortages and protect livelihoods at a much lower cost than a not timely humanitarian response,” FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu said.
The WFP Executive Director, Cindy McCain said, on his part, “Once a famine is declared, it is too late – many people will have already starved to death. In Somalia in 2011, half of a quarter of a million people who died of hunger perished before famine was officially declared.
“The world failed to heed the warnings at the time and the repercussions were catastrophic. We must learn the lesson and act now to stop these hotspots from igniting a firestorm of hunger.
“We have proven solutions to stop these crises in their tracks, but we need the resources and the political will to implement them at scale before more lives are lost.”
The report added that ongoing conflict in Palestine is expected to further worsen the already catastrophic levels of acute hunger.
“Starvation and death are already occurring, accompanied by an unprecedented death toll, widespread destruction, and the displacement of nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip,” the UN noted.