A part of the world is on the verge of famine, but hunger programs are not receiving enough funding to address the crises

ROME – The world is hungry. Famine is now a daily reality for many countries, yet only 47 percent of the funds that would be needed to face the hunger emergency have been completely financed through the United Nations humanitarian system. The funding gap is around 53 percent. This is denounced by the new report “Hunger Finding Gap” of the non-governmental organization Action Against Hunger. The analysis also shows that the countries that have experienced the most serious hunger crises have received less economic support than the countries that have experienced less dramatic situations.

The data that emerges. The trend is that overall support for countries in difficulty has declined even as needs have increased. In 2022, only 3 percent of hunger projects were fully funded. In 2021, on the other hand, only 7 percent, compared to 57 percent of loans left incomplete.

The war in Ukraine. The dossier “Hunger Finding Gap” was published yesterday, just before the anniversary of the war in Ukraine, which unfortunately caused the cost of food, fertilizers and energy to skyrocket. Today, one in three households in Ukraine is estimated to be food insecure, and the war has had far-reaching effects that have affected other areas. About 828 million people, or one in ten in the world, are undernourished and 50 million human beings in forty-five countries are on the verge of famine.

The testimony of Action Against Hunger. “Before the war, all of Somalia’s grain imports came from Russia or Ukraine. With the rising prices of food and fertilizers, the war in Ukraine is also indirectly killing Somali children,” said Ahmed Khalif, national director of Action Against Hunger in Somalia. Somalia is one of the countries experiencing the worst famine with a very high number of malnourished children. ‘Our team looked at the percentage of relative funding requests satisfied by the global community and found that countries with the lowest hunger rates received more funds than countries experiencing the most severe crises.’

The climate. Food insecurity caused by climate change is not easily resolved. The Horn of Africa, based on forecasts by meteorologists, is preparing to face the sixth consecutive season without rain. And even if it rains now, it will take time before all displaced people can return to their homes, before wells are filled and the soil hydrated, before crops grow and agricultural livelihoods are fully restored.

Chronic inequalities. Emergency funds are vital, but they are not enough to foster the long-term resilience of families, communities and entire countries. In addition to meeting the immediate needs that are at the heart of the “Hunger Finding Gap” report, the global community must address the chronic inequalities that lead millions of people to suffer from hunger also due to the effects of inflation. Haiti, for example, is the poorest country in the West. The latest reports show that 4.7 million Haitians live in conditions of acute food insecurity. Haiti is also an example of how internal conflicts, climate change and chronic inequalities together can produce devastating effects.

More hunger, more funds? For drafting the report, Action Against Hunger identified thirteen countries experiencing the worst levels of hunger crises in 2021 and analyzed the amount of funding those same countries subsequently received. The logical outcome should be that hunger levels are under control where more funds have been allocated because they were needed most. But it wasn’t always like this.

Rich countries and poor countries. In reality, the world already has the resources necessary to achieve the United Nations’ “Zero Hunger” goal by 2030. In fact, four billion dollars would be needed to satisfy the demands of the thirteen hungriest countries, which are those analyzed in the report “Hunger Finding Gap”. The funds needed for the “Zero Hunger” goal correspond more or less to 1/4 of what the United States spent on the Superbowl and the cost of the 2030 Winter Olympics. Rich countries – underlines the dossier – not only give too much little to tackle the problem of hunger, but their contributions often come late and fail to prevent the suffering of many peoples. Yet according to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), every dollar invested in peoples’ resilience reduces subsequent humanitarian spending by up to three dollars.