Millions of people in the Gaza Strip are now on the brink of famine due to lack of food. Also, the ongoing conflict in Sudan may cause the world’s biggest hunger crisis, the United Nations has warned. A famine occurs when a country’s population is prone to severe malnutrition, starvation, or death as a result of severe food shortages.
Usually, the United Nations declares whether a country has a famine or not. Sometimes the organization makes this announcement in conjunction with the country’s government or other international aid agencies or humanitarian organizations.
The decision is based on a United Nations standard called Integrated Food Safety Levels or IPC. A country’s food shortage or food insecurity is ranked based on five ‘stages’ of severity, with famine being the fifth and final stage.
But for a famine to be officially declared, three things must happen in a particular geographical area-
1. At least 20 percent of households will face severe food insecurity
2. At least 30 percent of children will be severely malnourished and
3. Every day, two adults or four children in ten thousand people will die of ‘total starvation or malnutrition or disease’.
When such an incident occurs, famine is officially declared there. According to UN data, famine is imminent in northern Gaza and could occur anytime between March and May 2024. Last 7
The situation comes after months of conflict in Gaza following Hamas attacks on Israel in October.
According to the IPC classification, about 1.1 million people in Gaza, about half the population, are hungry. If the situation reaches the worst, all of Gaza will face famine by July 2024.
The United Nations says more people in Gaza suffer from acute food insecurity than any other region or country covered by the IPC. On the other hand, UN officials have warned that the ongoing conflict in Sudan is plunging the country into the worst humanitarian crisis in recent history, which could lead to the world’s biggest hunger crisis.
According to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), about 18 million people in Sudan are facing severe food insecurity as a result of the civil war that started in April 2023. UNICEF says this has led to ‘beyond the worst imaginations’ of malnutrition among young children, as well as outbreaks of cholera, measles and malaria.
According to Action Against Hunger, a humanitarian organization, several other countries also have ‘alarming levels of hunger’. These include Afghanistan, Congo, Tigray region of Ethiopia, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
In March 2024, the United Nations World Food Program warned that Haiti was on the brink of a ‘catastrophic hunger crisis’, facing severe political and economic crises due to ever-increasing gang violence.
About 1.4 million people there are on the brink of famine. Another 3 million people are at a level below this. According to the IPC, Haiti’s food security situation is ‘alarming’.
Famines and extreme food shortages have multiple causes, says the IPC. Famine can be caused by man-made or natural causes or a combination of both. Action Against Hunger says conflict is the ‘root cause of hunger worldwide’.
The agency blames insufficient food production and high food prices for potential famine in Sudan. It said life-saving food, fuel and water are not getting into the territory due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Cries for food in Gaza / Photo: AFP
The IPC also highlighted the ‘near-impossibility’ of humanitarian agencies in northern Gaza. According to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), food shortages are occurring due to droughts and crop failures caused by extreme weather caused by climate change. This shortage is particularly widespread in East Africa.
Another reason is El Niño. This is basically a type of climate that causes the surface water in the Pacific Ocean to warm abnormally.
According to the agency, El Niño has already had a negative impact on food supplies in Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Famine was last officially declared in South Sudan in 2017. After three years of civil war, about 80,000 people were starving and another ten million were on the brink of starvation. The United Nations blamed the war’s impact on agriculture at the time. Farmers lost livestock, crop production declined drastically, and inflation soared.
In addition, there were famines in South Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2008, Gode in the Somali region of Ethiopia in 2000, North Korea in 1996, Somalia in 1991-92 and Ethiopia in 1984-85.
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From 1845 to a period in 1852 Ireland suffered from famine and disease. Many emigrated during what later became known as the ‘Great Famine’. At that time, one third of the people of the country lived by eating potatoes. It is said that one million people died due to a huge loss in potato production due to some disease. But despite this, potatoes continued to be imported to Great Britain, which ruled the island at the time.
TTN
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