Everyone Has a Right to Health and Well-Being

Last month, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Food Program released a report titled “Hunger Hotspots: FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity.” The early warning report identified 18 hunger hotspots where acute food insecurity is expected to further deteriorate in the coming months.

The report concluded, “Urgent and scaled-up assistance is therefore required in all 18 hunger hotspots to protect livelihoods and increase access to food.”

Early detection of impending food crises is essential to mitigate the disaster, destruction, and death from hunger emergencies and famine.

“Once a famine is declared, it is too late – many people will have already starved to death,” World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain said. “In Somalia in 2011, half of the 250,000 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.”

The FAO-WFP report listed South Sudan, Mali, Sudan, Gaza and Haiti as the hunger hotspots of highest concern.

In South Sudan, the report projected that 56% of the population will face crisis levels of acute food insecurity, including 2.3 million people facing emergency levels and nearly 100,000 people suffering from catastrophic famine.

Examining the period between April and July 2024, the number of people facing starvation and death is expected to nearly double compared to last year. The crisis, according to the report, is caused by “Tight domestic food supplies and sharp currency depreciation [that] are driving soaring food prices, compounded by likely floods and recurrent waves of subnational conflict.”

In Mali, critical levels of acute food insecurity are projected to increase, with about 3,000 people in the Ménaka region facing death and starvation by August. According to the report, the exacerbation of this crisis is “driven primarily by an intensification of conflict and compounded by the full withdrawal of the U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission.”

In Sudan, the ongoing escalating conflict is worsening the already dire acute food insecurity crisis in the country.

As the report noted, “A major food deficit is expected this year as violence, looting and disruptions severely lower agricultural production, while increasing challenges in receiving and financing imports escalate shortages and result in soaring prices.”

Nearly 18 million people in Sudan face acute food insecurity, with 4.9 million people facing emergency levels.

In the Middle East, half of Gaza’s population is estimated to face death and starvation as a consequence of the current conflict, while in Haiti, rising violence, an ongoing economic crisis, and extreme weather expose the vulnerable population to the risk of catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

The report indicated, “Haiti now ranks among countries with the highest prevalence of acute food insecurity globally.” Nearly 2 million people are projected to experience emergency food insecurity conditions.

Though this is only a snapshot of the many food crises faced by vulnerable populations, combatting food insecurity must be a priority for both governments and civil society.

Under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to a standard of living that is adequate for their health and well-being. The findings in the recent United Nations Hunger Hotspots report heighten the urgency of responding to the devastating tragedy of acute food insecurity around the world.