Category Archives: Hunger

Four chicken heads a dollar: how one Harare grandmother scratches a living in lockdown

Posted on by

Staying home means starvation for many Zimbabweans, and those forced to work face police raids and dwindling custom

Pammula Chiunya, 68, is sitting under an open-sided shed outside a makeshift beer hall in Hopley settlement, six miles (10km) west of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. She is not happy.

Chiunya serves roasted chicken heads in a twist of old newspaper to a visibly drunk man, then settles to wait for someone else to emerge from the shebeen, which is crammed with animated revellers dancing to loud music. Customers are elusive, even with her prices: four heads for a dollar.

Continue reading...

‘Back empty-handed’: Bangladeshis cut off from jobs abroad face rising poverty

Posted on by

Whole communities supported by overseas work are at risk of extreme poverty after the pandemic forced thousands home

When the pandemic forced Firoza Begum back to Bangladesh after six months trapped in her employer’s house without pay, her husband was so angry she had returned empty-handed that he would not let her move back in to the family home.

All her savings after 14 years working in the Middle East had been spent escaping her abusive employer.

Continue reading...

Decades of progress on extreme poverty now in reverse due to Covid

Posted on by

Analysis: The pandemic, combined with the climate crisis and crippling debt burdens, has led to an ‘unprecedented increase’ in poverty, experts warn

Two decades of progress in the reduction of extreme poverty, the elimination of which is one of the sustainable development goals, have been pushed into a sharp reverse by a combination of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the growing climate emergency and increasing debt.

With the World Bank warning of a “truly unprecedented increase” in levels of poverty this year, and renewing calls for debt forgiveness, experts are warning of a growing crisis in multiple areas from education to employment, likely to be felt for years to come.

Continue reading...

Ten years after the Arab spring, Yemen has little hope left

Posted on by

Racked by war, cholera and now coronavirus, the country faces the world’s worst famine in decades

Ten years after the rage and hope of the Arab spring filled the public spaces of Sana’a, Yemen’s capital has become a curiously quiet place.

Traders and customers alike shuffle through the streets of the old city, ground down by the repression of the Houthi rebel occupation and the economic hardship caused by the Saudi- and Emirati-led coalition blockade.

Continue reading...

‘The lockdown was political’: Chad under strain ahead of election

Posted on by

Opposition cries foul as Covid restrictions cut off incomes and health care in country where two-thirds live in severe poverty

For Abdulgadir Sanousi the decision to lock down the capital of Chad was “a nightmare”. His work driving from N’Djamena to Moundou in the south four times a week dried up overnight. This month any work has involved bribing police to let him through the checkpoints at N’Djamena’s four main entry points.

“The situation is just a nightmare for us. We are faced with difficulties by the police. In order to deal with them you need to bribe them, if not they would confiscate your vehicle,” says 27-year-old Sanousi.

Continue reading...

Landlocked Lesotho faces food crisis amid Covid border closures

Posted on by

Food price increases and economic impact of lockdowns have left a quarter of the kingdom’s population reliant on food aid, UN warns

Almost a quarter of Lesotho’s population will require food aid between January and March as a result of Covid-19 restrictions, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned.

More than 580,000 people out of a population of 2.2 million are estimated to be food insecure, despite predictions of normal to above average rains this year and the potential for above average cereal production.

Continue reading...

PlayStation 5 launch gets more coverage ‘than 10 humanitarian crises combined’

Posted on by

Charity says the media is failing countries by underreporting humanitarian emergencies, with women suffering most

The launch of PlayStation 5 received 26 times more news attention than 10 humanitarian crises combined in 2020, according to a Care International report published today.

The humanitarian crises, which included violence in Guatemala, hunger in Madagascar and natural disasters in Papua New Guinea, were largely swept aside by news of Covid-19, global Black Lives Matter protests and more clickbait-friendly events such as the Eurovision song contest and Kanye West’s bid for the US presidency; the latter two each received 10 times more online news attention than the humanitarian crises in question, the report found.

Continue reading...

Covid billionaires should help starving people, says charity boss

Posted on by

Head of World Food Program USA says 235 million people ‘marching toward starvation’

Billionaires whose wealth has soared during the coronavirus pandemic should stump up to provide emergency aid to the record numbers of people facing starvation, the head of a US charity supporting the World Food Programme has said.

Related: Billionaires' wealth rises to $10.2 trillion amid Covid crisis

Continue reading...

Zimbabwe enters Covid lockdown amid fears over crowded new year parties

Posted on by

Panic over infection rates mixed with fear of widespread hunger as 30-day shutdown is imposed after people defy ban on gatherings

Parties and new year celebrations that attracted thousands of revellers with little social distancing or mask wearing have triggered panic and a strict 30-day national lockdown in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.

On New Year’s Eve thousands of people gathered at Matapi, Mbare, one of Zimbabwe’s oldest townships for a dancehall concert, while thousands of others held parties across the city despite a police ban.

Continue reading...

A Nobel prize for feeding the world can’t erase the shame of Yemen’s starving children | David Beasley

Posted on by

I feel pride, but can’t shake my sense of failure that the World Food Programme’s media moment comes as hunger rages

I have done the usual things you do before an awards ceremony. After extensive high-level consultation, I think I now have the right suit and tie. Carefully folded in my pocket is a long list of people to praise, many far more deserving of praise than I. I am ready.

Growing up in a small South Carolina town, I never imagined life would bring me to this moment and allow me to be part of the wonderful, blessed enterprise I have found in WFP, the World Food Programme.

Continue reading...

Yemen ‘one step away from famine’ as donors dry up amid Covid, UN warns

Posted on by

Urgent alert issued over millions struggling with ‘catastophic levels’ of hunger as less than half of required aid received

The window to prevent the return of famine to Yemen is rapidly closing, UN agencies have warned, with a new assessment showing millions could head further into hunger in the coming months.

The alert came as a World Health Organization food security assessment showed thousands of people are slipping into famine – a number that is predicted to triple in the first half of next year – while millions more have seen declining access to food.

Continue reading...

UN issues $100m emergency funding and calls for global effort to avert famine

Posted on by

Organisation says money pledged is ‘not enough’ and warns of potential for huge number of child deaths

The UN has earmarked $100m (£75m) in emergency funding for seven countries deemed at risk of famine, warning that without immediate action the world could see “huge numbers of children dying on TV screens”.

The climate crisis, Covid-19, conflict and economic decline have created an “acute and grave crisis” in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen, where millions of people are facing emergency levels of food insecurity, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told the Guardian.

Continue reading...

‘The numbers floored me’: hunger in Pennsylvania hits highest level since pandemic’s start

Posted on by

Demand for food aid surges in state and across country, with 54m potentially facing hunger by year’s end

Charles Bennicoff hasn’t worked since last winter. He’s an experienced landscape gardener but the mom-and-pop business he worked for in Allentown, Pennsylvania, cut its staff after losing most of their contracts during the pandemic.

Continue reading...

Ending world hunger by 2030 would cost $330bn, study finds

Posted on by

Research suggests that by targeting enhanced aid money more effectively and with greater innovation, a solution is possible

Ending hunger by 2030 would come with a price tag of $330bn (£253bn), according to a study backed by the German government.

Research groups compiled data from 23 countries and found international donors would need to add another $14bn a year to their spending on food security and nutrition over the next 10 years; more than twice their current contribution. Low and middle-income countries would also have to give another $19bn a year, potentially through taxation.

Continue reading...

Aid cuts and Covid force Uganda refugees to brink of starvation

Posted on by

More than 90,000 face extreme hunger with another 400,000 hit by food crisis, says report

Nearly 500,000 refugees in Uganda are struggling to eat as a result of cuts to food aid and Covid-19 restrictions.

More than 91,000 people living in 13 refugee settlements around the country are experiencing extreme levels of hunger, according to the latest analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), published this week. More than 400,000 refugees are considered to be at crisis hunger levels.

Continue reading...

‘Coming here is a necessity’: demand for food aid soars in US amid job losses

Posted on by

Nationwide the need for aid at food banks and pantries has surged amid worst unemployment rate in modern times

Neisha Davis cradles brown paper lunch bags in the crook of one arm, while holding on to Demitri, her wriggling baby son, in the other and keeping a careful eye on Naya, her four-year-old daughter, as she runs around the church car park with another little girl.

It’s hectic but the free packed lunches have become a crucial part of their daily nutrition. So everyday at noon the family make the two-mile journey from Homewood, a low income predominantly African American Pittsburgh neighbourhood with no grocery stores, to the East End Community Ministry’s pop-up lunch stall in East Liberty.

Continue reading...

Children forced to beg or work as hunger eclipses fear of Covid-19 in Yemen

Posted on by

Hikes in food, water and petrol prices adds to ‘triple emergency’, as coronavirus spreads unchecked and humanitarian aid dwindles

Families in Yemen are having to send their children out to work and to beg as concerns mount over rising food, water and petrol prices, a survey has found.

Despite coronavirus spreading undetected across the war-ravaged nation, data collected from more than 150 households in three provinces of southern Yemen found that respondents were more worried about going hungry than contracting Covid-19. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which led the survey, found nearly two-thirds (62%) of respondents reported being unable to afford food and drinking water. Prices for sugar and vegetable oil have jumped by more than 25% in the past year.

Continue reading...

With total control, President Déby is Chad’s greatest threat to stability

Posted on by

‘President for life’ knows he is protected by France while Chadians die of hunger

Once a year, there is a ranking of the conditions of the world’s nations. It’s like a country’s report card, with health, education and living standards as key indicators. The UN’s Human Development Index tells citizens – and campaigners like me – how well or badly a country is doing.

Since 1990, the year Idriss Déby seized power, ousting his mentor Hissène Habré in a bloody war, Chad – a landlocked former French colony that separates the Sahara in the north from the savannah in the south – has consistently ranked at the bottom of the index, fluctuating between 160 and 187 (out of 189).

Continue reading...

The Guardian view on the disappearing aid: a shake up with lethal consequences | Editorial

Posted on by

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, levels of hunger and poverty are going to rise. Given this, the abolition of DfID is a serious mistake

This week’s warning from Unicef is stark. Without immediate action, children under five will die in their tens of thousands in the coming year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The UN agency estimates that an additional 6.7 million children will become dangerously under-nourished unless at least $2.4bn can be mobilised. The risk is that 10,000 more children a month will die.

Hunger is not confined to poor countries: the call for 1.5 million more children in England to get free school meals is evidence of that. Ministers ought to act at home. But acute hunger is a much more acute problem in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. What’s more, Unicef is far from alone in pointing out the vulnerability of the world’s poorest people to coronavirus. The World Bank is pencilling in the first increase in poverty in two decades. The International Monetary Fund says deep recessions in advanced countries are having a marked impact of remittances – worth $360bn in 2018 – into low income and fragile states.

Continue reading...

‘We had to eat our seeds for planting’: 10 million in Sudan facing food shortages

Posted on by

UN warns coronavirus restrictions prevent access to most vulnerable and rising prices are leaving many going hungry

Almost a quarter of the population of Sudan are going hungry as conflict, rising food prices and the coronavirus take their toll.

About 9.6 million people now face severe food shortages, the highest number recorded in the country’s recent history.

Continue reading...