UNITED NATIONS (AP) 鈥� Nearly 282 million people in 59 countries suffered from acute hunger in 2023, with war-torn Gaza as the territory with the largest number of , according to the released Wednesday.
The U.N. report said 24 million more people faced an acute lack of food than in 2022, due to the sharp deterioration in food security, especially in the Gaza Strip and Sudan. The number of nations with food crises that are monitored has also been expanded.
M谩ximo Torero, chief economist for the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, said 705,000 people in five countries are at Phase 5, the highest level, on a scale of hunger determined by international experts 鈥� the highest number since the global report began in 2016 and quadruple the number that year.
Over 80% of those facing imminent famine 鈥� 577,000 people 鈥� were in Gaza, he said. , , and each host many thousands also facing .
According to the report鈥檚 future outlook, around 1.1 million people in Gaza, where the Israel-Hamas war is now in its seventh month, and 79,000 in South Sudan are projected to be in Phase 5 and facing famine by July.
It said conflict will also continue to drive food insecurity in , where .
Additionally, while the El Nino phenomenon peaked in early 2024, 鈥渋ts full impact on food security 鈥� including flooding and poor rain in parts of , especially Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe 鈥� are like to manifest throughout the year.鈥�
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the report 鈥渁 roll call of human failings,鈥� and that 鈥渋n a world of plenty, children are starving to death.鈥�
鈥淭he conflicts erupting over the past 12 months compound a dire global situation,鈥� he wrote in the report's foreword.
Guterres highlighted the conflict in the Gaza Strip, as the enclave holds the highest number of people facing . There is also the , which has created the world's largest 鈥渨ith atrocious impacts on hunger and nutrition,鈥� he added.
According to the report, over 36 million people in 39 countries and territories are facing an acute hunger emergency, a step below the famine level in Phase 4, with more than a third in Sudan and . It's an increase of a million people from 2022, the report said.
Arif Husain, the U.N. World Food Program鈥檚 chief economist, said every year since 2016 the numbers of people acutely food insecure have gone up, and they are now more than double the numbers before the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the report looks at 59 countries, he said the target is to get data from 73 countries where there are people who are acutely food insecure.
Secretary-General Guterres called for an urgent response to the report鈥檚 findings that addresses the underlying causes of acute hunger and malnutrition while transforming the systems that supply food. with the needs, he stressed.
鈥淲e must have the funding, and we also must have the access,鈥� WFP鈥檚 Husain said, stressing that both 鈥済o hand-in-hand鈥� and are essential to tackle acute food insecurity.
The report is the flagship publication of the Food Security Information Network and is based on a collaboration of 16 partners including U.N. agencies, regional and multinational bodies, the European Union, the U.S. Agency for International Development, technical organizations and others.
Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press
