If a Hunger crisis has slipped from the public eye, humanitarian funds often go back. But people continue to suffer – and starve in silence.
The essentials in brief • Poorer people are finding it increasingly difficult to buy food due to rising prices. • Climate change, the Ukraine war and the consequences of the corona pandemic are price drivers. • At the same time, aid organizations are reporting underfunding of humanitarian programs. • In long-lasting crises, it is much more difficult to find financial resources.
It has become normal for seven-year-old Evelyn and her family to skip meals.
The family lives in the Bidi Bidi refugee camp in Uganda.
Evelyn ‘s father lost his job due to the pandemic – and can no longer support his family.
The family of ten depends on aid programs and the generosity of neighbors to eat at best once a day.
When she spoke to the international children’s charity World Vision for the first time, Evelyn had not eaten for 24 hours.
But this wasn’t a long time, said the mother : “A week ago we didn’t eat anything for four days,” she said.
The situation of Evelyn and her family is not an isolated case.
Due to the economic consequences of the corona pandemic, the climatic changes and long-lasting and new conflicts, the world is facing a global hunger crisis.
Hunger Crisis : Ukraine war heats up prices
The hunger crisis is further fueled by the rising prices for food , fertilizer and fuel caused by the war in Ukraine .
Disruptions in global grain exports in Ukraine and Russia are having a severe impact on countries heavily dependent on wheat imports.
The two countries produce nearly a third (30 percent) of global wheat.
Hunger Crisis : Refugees feel the global crisis
The crisis hits the poorest of the poor.
Among them are many refugee children and families who were already in need before the pandemic.
They suffer the most.
The World Vision study “Hungry and unprotected children: The forgotten refugees” shows that 82 percent of refugees and internally displaced persons can no longer afford basic necessities such as rent, medical care and food .
The people depend on the aid organizations that provide them with the essentials.
But: International organizations such as the World Food Program of the United Nations (WFP) are also affected by rising food prices and export restrictions – with simultaneous underfunding of the programs.
The result: Not enough goods can be purchased and distributed.
Hunger Crisis : Protracted crises tend to be underfinanced
Hunger Crisis : However, the lack of financial resources varies greatly depending on the conflict.
The need for Ukraine, for example, was covered at 61.5% (US$ 1.38 billion) in a lightning call.
An additional $340.48 million was allocated to regional refugee assistance.
Compared to other crises and conflicts that are no longer - or never - in the public eye, that is an extraordinary amount: The emergency aid for Bangladesh, where 860,000 people live under precarious circumstances in the world's largest refugee camp, Cox's Bazar , is only too good 18% covered.
In Mali and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where conflicts have been rife, around 10 percent of the funding needed has been approved.
The aid for Venezuelan internally displaced persons and people who have fled from Venezuela to Colombia is only 0.3 percent covered.
Hunger Crisis : According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on average only 18% of the required financial resources for crisis situations worldwide are approved.
This lists the financial needs of the individual trouble spots in detail.
As the largest implementing partner of the WFP, World Vision is also affected by the global financing and supply chain problems.
The children’s charity fears a sharp increase in hunger in 2022.
Because the world community is now forced to ration food from those who are starving in order to save those who are starving.
It is foreseeable that this will have long-term consequences for the children and their families.
Help here with a donation now .
