Nov. 8 (UPI) – The United Nations World Food Program on Monday launched an urgent appeal to raise $ 6.6 billion to help 45 million people in 43 countries stave off famine.
WFP, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 for its efforts to fight hunger, said in a report that without immediate food relief, tens of millions of people are at risk of starvation.
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November 8 (UPI) – The United Nations World Food Program published an urgent appeal on Monday to raise $ 6.6 billion to help 45 million people in 43 countries avert famine / p> WFP, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 for its efforts to fight hunger, said in a report that without immediate food relief, tens of millions of people are at risk of starvation.
David Beasley, Executive Director of WFP, said the impending disaster was linked to the combination of climate change, wars / conflicts and COVID-19.
« It’s as bad as you can imagine, » he told the BBC. « In fact, we are now facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The winter months are coming, we are coming out of a drought … the next six months will be catastrophic. It will be hell on earth. » . «
23 million people are marching towards hunger. 95% of Afghans do not have enough food. The economy is collapsing. Winter is coming.
The WFP report states: “While COVID is undeniably exacerbating fragility around the world, man-made conflict is fueling instability and fueling a destructive new wave of hunger that threatens to hit the world. The toll that is being paid for human misery is unimaginable. ”
Afghanistan is developing into the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world. The report said the country’s needs exceeded those of the other hardest hit countries – Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
In late October, the WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization announced in a separate report that this one Winter saw a record number of people in Afghanistan due to government instability in the war-torn country and economic sanctions related to the Taliban takeover in the summer.
The WFP urges the world’s billionaires to donate $ 6.6 billion to « bring them out of the abyss by providing one meal a day for each person for the next year. »
Last week, Beasley and billionaire Elon Musk had a Twitter exchange in which Musk said she was selling Tesla stock and helping – when the WFP produces a statement on how exactly the funds donated will be spent.
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