World food shortages

UN: Tens of millions at risk of famine

Pessimistic scenarios regarding the effects of the Iran war on global hunger are becoming reality, the UN says according to AFP.

If oil prices continue to hover around $100 per barrel until the end of June, 45 million people are expected to face famine, according to the UN World Food Programme.

In Somalia, six million people already have acute food insecurity. By the end of the year, another 2.5 million could be unable to afford food for the day. The situation is being exacerbated by conflicts, droughts and floods in the region.

– It should make us angry, the lack of humanity in this situation of ruthless geopolitics, war, conflict, indifference and cruelty, says the UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher. 

Mother in refugee camp: “Hunger brought us here”

Acute famine affects over six million people in Somalia, and risks affecting another 2.5 million if oil prices do not fall, according to the UN. In addition, the area is suffering from both drought and flooding.

38-year-old Zeynab Ibrahim fled her parched village after four of her ten children died of illness and hunger. She is now in a refugee camp in the capital Mogadishu.

“We did everything we could to survive – selling dried grass and digging water out of the barren ground. Unfortunately, there was nothing left. So hunger brought us here,” she tells The Guardian.