The UN voiced strong concern over the deteriorated situation with food amid the coronacrisis. The most vulnerable people live in the developing countries, said the World Food Program (WFP) report. At least 14 million people could go hungry in Latin America.
As the pandemic rages on, the humankind is entering a very complicated stage. The health system crisis complicated with food crisis makes people to shutter in their homes, dries up work and kills the economy.
On Wednesday, the WFP New projections were released. As the experts suggest, whereas 3.4 million experienced severe food insecurity in 2019, that number could more than quadruple this year in one of the world’s most vulnerable regions, GlobalNews reports on Thursday.
Miguel Barreto, the WFP’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, warns that the current situation “It is what we are calling a hunger pandemic.”
Signs of mounting hunger are terrible around the region, where desperate citizens have to violate quarantines to go out in search of money and food and hanging red and white flags from their homes in a cry for aid.
The most alarming thing in the current situation is a number of people going hungry is likely to be higher than the UN projection. In its research, the WFP only takes into account numbers in the 11 countries where the organization operates. In other words, the estimate does not include, for example, Venezuela, a Latin American country with totally collapsed economy.
Latin America suffers from coronavirus crisis’ consequences
The WFP official David Beasley warned in April that an addition 130 million people could be “pushed to the brink of starvation” worldwide by the end of 2020. The new estimates for Latin America indicate the region will be especially hard hit.
Across the Latin American region, nearly 30 million more people are expected to find themselves in “situations of poverty” and another 16 million among the extremely poor, the UN estimates.
That is why the UN food organization is calling on nations to expand their social safety net to those who traditionally don’t qualify for aid. Both coronavirus and lockdown have changed the world forever. Responding to the crisis, many governments and international organizations have been stepping up, providing cash transfers and food deliveries, but are facing logistical and economic hurdles.
The escalating hunger comes as the COVID-19 pandemic increasingly ravages Latin America. While Brazil now ranks second globally in the number of coronavirus infections, the COVID is on the rise in Peru, Chile, Mexico. The poor urban and remote rural communities are the most vulnerable in this situation.
The impact of such a sharp rise in hunger could have far-reaching implications ranging from higher levels of chronic childhood malnutrition to security issues.
