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	Global humanitarian needs have reached record levels, greater funding support essential by UN News, WFP, OCHA, agencies   Mar. 2024   WFP Global Operational Response Plan: Update #10 – February 2024   This report provides an analysis of food security and evolving needs and an update on World Food Programme’s response and priorities.   The convergence of multiple crises – conflict, extreme climate patterns and economic shocks – is driving hunger, eroding livelihoods and entrenching vulnerabilities especially in the hardest hit food crisis countries.   This comes at a time when global demand for urgent humanitarian and development assistance remains significantly high, whereas funding levels of WFP have returned to pre-pandemic levels, following the outlier year 2022 generous donations.   More than ever, WFP is undertaking efforts to navigate this challenging humanitarian space by optimizing its available resources. WFP continues to prioritize the most vulnerable people with lifesaving assistance in the operations of the highest concern – the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Sahel, Haiti, Sudan regional crisis, Palestine, Yemen and several others at risk of becoming ‘forgotten emergencies’.   Ending world hunger is one of the greatest challenges of our time; as many as 309 million people are facing acute levels of food insecurity in 2024 in the 72 countries with WFP operations and where data is available.   An estimated 42.3 million people across 45 countries will be in Emergency or worse levels of acute food insecurity in 2024. Without urgent life-saving action, these populations will be at risk of falling into catastrophe or famine conditions.   Globally, an estimated 45 million children under 5 were suffering from wasting. In 2024, the convergence of threats may further increase the number of children and pregnant and breastfeeding women affected by acute malnutrition.   Women and girls are bearing the brunt of the food crisis due to the social norms and structural barriers that limit their influence over the use of vital resources.   Between January and December 2023, WFP was able to reach an estimated 150 million people with food, cash and commodity vouchers. This is around 10 million fewer people reached than the same period in 2022. For 2024, WFP aims to reach 150 million people based on projected needs. WFP requires US$21.1 billion to meet food and nutrition needs this year.   http://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-global-operational-response-plan-update-10-february-2024 http://www.wfp.org/stories/one-year-sudans-war-its-people-yearn-peace-amid-soaring-hunger http://www.wfp.org/stories/haitians-deserve-better-wfp-calls-funds-and-resources-gang-violence-fuels-hunger http://www.wfp.org/stories/hunger-gaza-famine-findings-dark-mark-world-says-wfp-palestine-country-director http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/en/ http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/resources/alerts-archive/en/   Jan. 2024   Global Humanitarian Overview 2024. (OCHA)   On behalf of more than 1,900 humanitarian partners worldwide, the United Nations launched its global humanitarian appeal for 2024, calling for US$46.4 billion to help 180.5 million people with life-saving assistance and protection.   Armed conflicts, the climate emergency and collapsing economies are taking a devastating toll on the most vulnerable communities on all continents, resulting in catastrophic hunger, massive displacement and disease outbreaks.   One child in every five lives in, or has fled from, conflict zones in 2023. Some 258 million people face acute hunger. One in 73 people worldwide is displaced – a doubling in 10 years. And disease outbreaks are causing preventable deaths in all corners of the world.   “Humanitarians are saving lives, fighting hunger, protecting children, pushing back epidemics, and providing shelter and sanitation in many of the world’s most inhumane contexts. But the necessary support from the international community is not keeping pace with the needs,” said Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.   “We thank all donors for their contributions this year - but it was just a third of what was needed. If we cannot provide more help in 2024, people will pay for it with their lives.”   Funding shortfalls in 2023 meant that humanitarian organizations reached less than two thirds of the people they aimed to assist.   The consequences are tragic: In Afghanistan, 10 million people lost access to food assistance between May and November. In Myanmar, more than half a million people were left in inadequate living conditions. In Yemen, more than 80 per cent of people targeted for assistance do not have proper water and sanitation. And in Nigeria, only 2 per cent of the women expecting sexual and reproductive health services and gender-based violence prevention received it.   Aid organizations have addressed this needs-and-resources gap in their 2024 response plans, which will have a more disciplined focus on the most urgent needs and will target fewer people: nearly 181 million next year compared to 245 million at the end of 2023. Organizations are also appealing for less money: $46.4 billion for 2024 compared to $56.7 billion at the end of the 2023 global appeal.   However, the ambition to reach all people in need has not changed, and the call to donors to fully fund all the response plans is as urgent as ever.   Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator (Extract):   "As enter 2024, almost 300 million people around the world are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection – 300 million people.   And we know the causes. New and resurgent conflicts around the world with deep and long-lasting consequences, almost none of which are resolved and become what we call intractable.   This year, we have seen the eruption of yet more brutal conflicts. In Sudan in April and, in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory in October, joining the myriad other unresolved conflicts that have kept millions of people in the state of prolonged need. A year ago Ukraine, Syria, Yemen to name only a few.   The global climate emergency has continued to spiral out of control. 2023 has been the hottest year on record. We have seen multiple concurrent climate disasters, from Tropical Cyclone Freddy in southern Africa to wildfires in Europe, and the other devastation wrought by storm Daniel in Libya. And we were lucky to escape famine in the Horn of Africa. More children are now are displaced by climate than by conflict.   Persistent unequal economic pressures, climate disasters, disease outbreaks and other factors are significant drivers of need. Across the world more people are displaced than at any time since the beginning of this century: One in every 73 people around the world, a ratio that has been doubled in more than 10 years.   In 2023, we received just over one third of the $57 billion required, making this the worst funding shortfall in years. The result is that many people, around 38 percent of those targeted through our emergency-specific plans in countries, did not get the humanitarian assistance we sought to provide. Throughout the year, humanitarian agencies had to make painful decisions, including cutting life-saving food, water and health programming.   The World Food Programme reports that for every one per cent cut in funding - 400,000 more people fall into serious food insecurity. And we would like to hope, to not continue this trend into next year.   If we are to overcome increasingly complex challenges to humanitarian action, which we will see in 2024 – it’s all of us, who need to come together to play our part. The most important role the international community can play in crises is to do everything possible to save lives, to reconfirm that we are, at our core, one humanity.   Joyce Msuya, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator:   The world is in the midst of one of the largest humanitarian crises of the modern era, with the devastation wrought by conflict, climate change and economic hardship fuelling unprecedented levels of suffering.   The number of people suffering acute food shortages caused mainly by climate-related disasters has doubled in the space of a year. The displacement crisis is now worse than any we have seen this century. And today’s conflicts are more intense than ever.   In the face of all of this, humanitarians around the world have continued to display astonishing levels of sacrifice, resolve and courage as they strive to reach people in their darkest hour.   In 2023, the humanitarian community helped 128 million people with some form of assistance. Unfortunately, donor funding this year fell far short of needs. As a result, humanitarian agencies have had to make increasingly painful decisions, cutting life-saving food, water and health programming, with devastating results for so many.   We cannot allow this trend to continue into next year. That’s why today – on behalf of more than 1,900 humanitarian partners, the majority of them local and national NGOs – we are urging donors to fully fund our appeal for 2024.   This money will provide a lifeline to 181 million people in 72 countries – men, women and children whose lives have been shattered by war, climate change, economic hardship and other disasters.   Although the amount we’re asking for is less than last year, this does not mean the global humanitarian situation has improved. It means we have had to focus our efforts on the people who face the greatest threat to their lives.   Dec. 2023   300 million people caught up in humanitarian crises will need urgent support in 2024 - CARE International & 14 International Non-Government organizations   The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has launched the Global Humanitarian Overview for 2024, which outlines the most pressing humanitarian needs around the globe and what will it take to respond to them. Some 300 million individuals face unbelievable suffering next year.   To ensure all people will receive the support they need and deserve, CARE International along with 14 other INGOs urges the international community to fully fund the response to all humanitarian crises and address the root causes that perpetuate them.   Joint NGO Statement:   Despite years of preventable suffering, human casualties and violence on a catastrophic scale, millions of forcibly displaced, massive and often deliberate destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and other critical civilian infrastructure, and increasingly, climate emergencies, there are no real and clear political resolutions to put an end to numerous crises.   As diverse NGOs delivering aid across multiple crises, in accordance with humanitarian principles, we bear witness to growing humanitarian needs and the tremendous suffering of millions of people. We also witness the incredible resilience and courage of communities to withstand shocks and rebuild their lives, if adequately, timely and equitably supported.   Despite donor generosity, the funding of global appeals in 2023 amounted to only 35%, leaving millions exposed to hunger, diseases, and pervasive protection risks, bereft of essential services. In such scenarios, women and children are disproportionately affected, and hard-won development gains reversed.   Although we see ever escalating needs, the total number of People in Need outlined in the 2024 GHO was reduced by almost 64 million compared to 2023. This reduction is a result of “boundary setting” prioritisation that will effectively provide aid to some while denying it to others.   As the lifeline for many will be cut or reduced, protection risks, including the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, will skyrocket. We warn of the risk of making People in Need invisible and recall our collective commitment to leave no one behind.   We value OCHA’s and various Humanitarian Country Teams efforts to prepare evidence-based appeals. But we also recognise constraints to conduct needs assessment in specific contexts and call for upholding an impartial needs based targeting approach, informed by age, gender, and disability disaggregated data, as well as by the views and priorities of affected people.   The international community must not let people down twice. It is already failing to address the root causes of conflicts, climate change, and other drivers of humanitarian needs.   Existing and new donors must fully fund the 2024 GHO, including the work of international, national and local NGOs who have demonstrated to be best placed to reach affected people.   We also urge development actors to play a more active role to bring in substantive and sustainable additional resources to work in strategic collaboration with humanitarian actors to reduce needs over time.   (Signed: ActionAid International, CARE International, Caritas Internationalis, Christian Aid, Danish Refugee Council, Feminist Humanitarian Network, Humanity & Inclusion – Handicap International Trocaire, INTERSOS, The Lutheran World Federation, Norwegian Refugee Council, OXFAM, Plan International, Save the Children, Trocaire, World Vision International)   Worsening hunger crisis requires global response across all sectors. (OCHA)   Hunger is not inevitable, but it is almost always man-made, driven by a combination of armed conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes, poverty and inequality. Today, poverty and inequality remain the largest drivers of chronic hunger, while armed conflict continues to be the biggest driver of acute hunger in the world. 117 million people were driven to hunger by conflict in 2022.   In recent years, climate-related weather extremes have also destroyed ecosystems and people’s livelihoods.   Global food insecurity has reached new heights, causing 258 million people in 2022 to face high levels of acute food insecurity in 58 countries. Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Nigeria and Yemen being amongst those countries worst affected.   In 2022, wasting threatened the lives of 45 million children under 5 (or 7 per cent of all children). Women and people living in rural areas are amongst the hardest hit by food insecurity.   The outlook for 2023-2024 remains serious and likely to deteriorate further in the absence of concerted international support. Looking at 2023, as many as 333 million people are estimated to be acutely food insecure in the 78 countries with World Food Programme (WFP) operations and where data is available.   By April 2024, populations in 18 out of 22 countries or territories, identified as Hunger Hotspots, are likely to face a significant deterioration in acute food insecurity levels, with Burkina Faso, Mali, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), South Sudan and Sudan of high concern.   In these countries, people either already face, or are projected to face, starvation or are at risk of deterioration towards catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity (IPC/CH 5).   Persistently high food prices are adding extra pressure to food insecurity worldwide. Although global food prices have fallen from their peak in 2023, they remain well above pre-pandemic levels.   Domestic food prices increased in all 58 countries/territories with food crises by the end of the 2022, with food inflation of over 10 per cent in 38 of them, and making essential purchases unaffordable for many people.   The war in Ukraine also caused fertilizer and freight costs to surge, placing additional pressure on food prices by increasing the cost of production and transport.   Humanitarians have also faced increasing financial pressure in their operational costs associated with insecurity and volatility in areas of operation, the higher cost of commodities and cost of food, fuel and transport. For example, the World Food Programme’s current operational costs are, on average, 27 per cent higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic   http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2024/ http://www.wfp.org/stories/2023-pictures-ration-cuts-threaten-catastrophe-millions-facing-hunger http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/press-releases/global-hunger-funding-gap-hit-65-percent-for-neediest-countries/ http://www.savethechildren.net/news/2023-review-nearly-16000-children-day-plunged-hunger-top-10-worsening-food-crises http://www.care-international.org/news/300-million-people-caught-humanitarian-crises-will-need-urgent-support-2024 http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/launch-2024-humanitarian-appeal http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2024/article/worsening-hunger-crisis-requires-global-response-across-all-sectors   Aug. 2023   World Food Programme facing crippling funding crisis. (UN News)   Some 345 million people are at an acute state of food insecurity, while hundreds of millions more are at risk of worsening hunger, on the back of climate change impacts, natural disasters, food price increases, economic slowdown, and conflict and insecurity, says Carl Skau, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP).   Mr. Skau called on world leaders to prioritize funding for humanitarian response, enhance coordination with aid organizations, and address the root causes that are causing crises.   Mr. Skau noted that some of the countries where the needs are the greatest, are also where funding for relief operations are declining, forcing humanitarians to reduce or cut assistance.   “In WFP’s case, we have to make impossible trade-offs of prioritizing assistance,” he said, adding that the UN agency is in the midst of “a crippling funding crisis, which is forcing us to scale back life-saving assistance right as acute hunger is hitting record levels.”   At least 38 of WFP’s 86 country operations have experienced cuts or are planning to scale down food assistance programmes, including in Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, and several countries in West Africa.   “Less funding means WFP is forced to stop assisting people who are only in the category of ‘crisis level’, this is so that we can save those who are literally starving – the category of catastrophic hunger,” said. Mr. Skau.   He explained that due to these cuts, people at “crisis levels” of hunger, will fall into “catastrophic levels”, further raising humanitarian needs in the future if the food security situation globally does not improve.   “We are entering a humanitarian doom loop – where we save people who are starving, at the cost of millions of others falling closer into that same category.”   http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/07/1139267 http://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-global-operational-response-plan-update-8-june-2023 http://www.wfp.org/   June 2023   Conflicts, climate change and financial turmoil are increasing the need for humanitarian aid, but a lack of funding is resulting in painful rollbacks, the UN chief told a meeting in Geneva on Wednesday looking at how to respond to the crisis.   With 360 million people worldwide in need of humanitarian assistance, up 30 percent since early 2022, global humanitarian needs have yet again reached record levels.   In a message to the Humanitarian Affairs Segment, a platform created by the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to find solutions to pressing humanitarian aid issues, Antonio Guterres cited some shocking figures: more than 110 million people have been forced from their homes, while more than 260 million face daily difficulties getting food. Famine is a growing risk for many.   While the figures change, the reasons driving them up do not. The Secretary-General referred to the devastating impact of unresolved conflicts, that “grind on while new wars are launched” and the global economic turmoil triggered by COVID and aggravated by the worldwide impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.   Another hostile factor driving up fatalities and displacing millions is climate change, he said.   And as the most vulnerable are hit hardest, “sustainable development – the ultimate prevention tool – has stagnated or gone into reverse,” warned Mr. Guterres.   Many responsible for rising conflict are violating international law, attacking hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure. Rampant human rights violations are being committed, including against women and girls.   Halfway through 2023, the Global Humanitarian Appeal is only 20 per cent funded.   “This is causing a crisis within a crisis,” Mr. Guterres believes. Shortages of funds are causing cut backs to food aid in Syria, Bangladesh, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Afghanistan, and Yemen. Without a solution to the funding crisis, further cuts are inevitable, warned the UN chief.   June 2023   Global Humanitarian Overview. (OCHA)   Halfway into 2023, we have only received 20 per cent of the US $54.8 billion we need to help people in need around the world.   At the end of 2022, the number of people who need aid was a record 349 million, but that number has climbed to 362 million. This means that one in 22 people globally now require assistance. With needs growing exponentially, funding is struggling to keep pace.   OCHA also warns that unequal funding across emergencies and sectors have challenged our ability to respond to the surging needs. Current underfunded crises include Myanmar, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Venezuela, Somalia and Afghanistan.   These funding gaps have real consequences on millions of people’s food insecurity, health and protection, among others, and we encourage donors to continue to contribute generously to the humanitarian response plans.   http://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-humanitarian-overview-2023-mid-year-update-snapshot-18-june-2023 http://humanitarianaction.info/   * Strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations, Report of the UN Secretary-General: http://tinyurl.com/mwe55bxh   http://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/news/2023/06/82256/needs-record-high-underfunding-chronic-guterres-tells-humanitarians http://www.rescue.org/press-release/75-ngos-urge-congress-fund-humanitarian-food-assistance-programs-next-supplemental http://voiceeu.org/publications/voice-policy-resolution-2023-world-hunger-is-rising-sharply-let-s-stop-it-now.pdf http://www.unocha.org/events/ecosoc-humanitarian-affairs-segment http://www.un.org/ecosoc/en/humanitarian-affairs-segment Visit the related web page
	State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, WHO   July 2023   Over 122 million more people are facing hunger in the world since 2019 due to the pandemic and repeated weather shocks and conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report published today jointly by five United Nations specialized agencies.   If trends remain as they are, the Sustainable Development Goal of ending hunger by 2030 will not be reached, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warn.   The 2023 edition of the report reveals that at least 783 million people faced hunger in 2022. This represents an increase of 122 million people compared to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.   There are many places in the world facing deepening food crises. Some progress in hunger reduction was observed in Asia and Latin America, but hunger was still on the rise in Western Asia, the Caribbean and throughout all subregions of Africa in 2022. Africa remains the worst-affected region with one in five people facing hunger on the continent, more than twice the global average.   The food security and nutrition situation remained grim in 2022. The report finds that approximately 29.6 percent of the global population, equivalent to 2.4 billion people, did not have constant access to food, as measured by the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity. Among them, around 900 million individuals faced severe food insecurity.   Meanwhile, the capacity of people to access healthy diets has deteriorated across the world: more than 3.1 billion people in the world – or 42 percent – were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2021. This represents an overall increase of 134 million people compared to 2019.   Millions of children under five continue to suffer from malnutrition: in 2022, 148 million children under five years of age (22.3 percent) were stunted, 45 million (6.8 percent) were wasted, and 37 million (5.6 percent) were overweight. The prevalence of stunting and wasting was higher in rural areas, while overweight was slightly more prevalent in urban areas.   Steady progress has been made on increasing exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and reducing stunting among children under five years of age, but the world is still not on track to achieve the 2030 targets. Child overweight and low birthweight have changed little, and the prevalence of wasting is more than double the 2030 target.   The report looks at increased urbanization as a ‘megatrend’ affecting how and what people eat. With almost seven in ten people projected to live in cities by 2050, governments and others working to tackle hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition must seek to understand these urbanization trends and account for them in their policymaking.   In particular, the simple rural and urban divide concept is no longer sufficient to understand the ways in which urbanization is shaping agrifood systems. A more complex rural-urban continuum perspective is needed considering both the degree of connectivity that people have and types of connections that exist between urban and rural areas.   Worldwide, food insecurity disproportionately affects women and people living in rural areas. The gender gap in food insecurity at the global level, has widened in the wake of the Covid pandemic.   Food insecurity affects more people living in rural areas. Moderate or severe food insecurity affected 33 percent of adults living in rural areas and 26 percent in urban areas.   Children’s malnutrition also displays urban and rural specificities: the prevalence of child stunting is higher in rural areas (35.8 percent) than in urban areas (22.4 percent). Wasting is higher in rural areas (10.5 percent) than in urban areas (7.7 percent), while overweight is slightly more prevalent in urban areas (5.4 percent) compared to rural areas (3.5 percent).   The report recommends that to effectively promote food security and nutrition, policy interventions, actions and investments must be guided by a comprehensive understanding of the complex and changing relationship between the rural-urban continuum and agrifood systems.   Increasing urbanization is driving changes in agrifood systems across the rural–urban continuum. These changes represent both challenges and opportunities to ensure everyone has access to affordable healthy diets.   Challenges include a greater availability of cheaper, convenience, pre-prepared and fast foods, often energy dense and high in fats, sugars and/or salt that can contribute to malnutrition; insufficient availability of vegetables and fruits to meet the daily requirements of healthy diets for everyone; exclusion of small farmers from formal value chains; and loss of lands and natural capital due to urban expansion.   The affordability of a healthy diet is becoming more critical to households living in peri-urban and rural areas because they rely more on food purchases. In 11 African countries studied, low-income households living in peri-urban and rural areas would need to more than double their food expenditure to secure a healthy diet.   FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu: “Recovery from the global pandemic has been uneven, and the war in Ukraine has affected the nutritious food and healthy diets. This is the ‘new normal’ where climate change, conflict, and economic instability are pushing those on the margins even further from safety.”   IFAD President, Alvaro Lario: “A world without hunger is possible. What we are missing is the investments and political will to implement solutions at scale. We can eradicate hunger if we make it a global priority. Investments in small-scale farmers and in their adaptation to climate change, access to inputs and technologies, and access to finance to set up small agribusinesses can make a difference. Small-scale producers are part of the solution. Properly supported, they can produce more food, diversify production, and supply both urban and rural markets - feeding rural areas and cities nutritious and locally grown food."   UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell: “Malnutrition is a major threat to children’s survival, growth and development. The scale of the nutrition crisis demands a stronger response focused on children, including prioritizing access to nutritious and affordable diets and essential nutrition services, protecting children and adolescents from nutrient-poor, ultra-processed foods, and strengthening food and nutrition supply chains including for fortified and therapeutic foods for children.”   WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: “Child wasting remains unacceptably high and there has been no progress in reducing child overweight. We need targeted public policies, investments and actions to create healthier food environments for all.”’   http://www.wfp.org/news/122-million-more-people-pushed-hunger-2019-due-multiple-crises-reveals-un-report http://www.wfp.org/publications/state-food-security-and-nutrition-world-sofi-report-2023 http://www.fao.org/publications/home/fao-flagship-publications/the-state-of-food-security-and-nutrition-in-the-world/en http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/122-million-more-people-pushed-hunger-2019-due-multiple-crises-reveals-un-report http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/oxfam-reaction-un-global-hunger-report-ending-hunger-possible-requires-bold Visit the related web page
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