'One in ten worldwide go to bed hungry every night,' reveals UN food chief

The head of the United Nations food agency has warned of a severe global hunger crisis affecting over 700 million people who are uncertain about when or if they will have their next meal.

As reported by AP, the demand for food is continuously increasing while humanitarian funding is diminishing. According to WFP estimates from 79 countries where the Rome-based agency operates, up to 783 million people — one in 10 of the world’s population — still go to bed hungry every night.

More than 345 million people are facing high levels of food insecurity this year, an increase of almost 200 million people from early 2021 before the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said.

“We are now living with a series of concurrent and long-term crises that will continue to fuel global humanitarian needs,” she said. “This is the humanitarian community’s new reality — our new normal — and we will be dealing with the fallout for years to come.”

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The head of the World Food Programme (WFP), who is also the widow of the late US senator John McCain, has revealed that the agency's estimates indicate that nearly 47 million individuals in more than 50 countries are on the brink of famine. Alarmingly, this includes approximately 45 million children under the age of five who are currently experiencing acute malnutrition.

“Our collective challenge is to ramp up the ambitious, multi-sectoral partnerships that will enable us to tackle hunger and poverty effectively, and reduce humanitarian needs over the long-term,” McCain urged business leaders at the council meeting focusing on humanitarian public-private partnerships. The aim is not just financing, but also finding innovative solutions to help the world’s neediest.

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As reported by AP, Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard, told the council that “humanitarian relief has long been the domain of government” and development institutions, and the private sector was seen as a source of financial donations for supplies.

“Money is still important, but companies can offer so much more,” he said. “The private sector stands ready to tackle the challenges at hand in partnership with the public sector.”

Miebach stressed, “business cannot succeed in a failing world” and humanitarian crises impact fellow citizens of the world. A business can use its expertise, he said, to strengthen infrastructure, “innovate new approaches and deliver solutions at scale” to improve humanitarian operations.

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Jared Cohen, president of global affairs at Goldman Sachs, told the council that the revenue of many multinational companies rivals the GDP of some of the Group of 20 countries with the largest economies, AP noted. He said five American companies and many of their global counterparts have over 500,000 workers — more than the population of up to 20 UN member nations.

(With inputs from AP)