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COVID-19: Worst humanitarian crisis since WWII looms - WFP

World War II

World Food Program, WFP, the U.N. food agency has warned that the world is “on the brink of a hunger pandemic,” as it struggles to contain COVID-19.

WFP Executive Director David Beasley told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that “2020 would be facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.”

“ 821 million people go to bed hungry every night all over the world, chronically hungry. And as Dr. Chu just pointed out as the new global report on food crises, that’s published today shows there are a further 135 million people facing crisis levels of hunger or worse.

“That means 135 million people on earth are marching toward the brink of starvation,” Beasely underlined.

As a result of COVID-19 an additional 130 million people “could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020, according to a World Food Program analysis.”

Beasley, who is recovering from COVID-19, warned that in a worst-case scenario “we could be looking at famine in about three dozen countries.”

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