Around 130 million people in the world will be hungry by the end of 2020 because of the effects of COVID-19, the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement released Tuesday.
“WFP predicts that the economic impact of COVID-19 will increase the number of people suffering from acute food insecurity to 265 million in 2020, an increase of 130 million from 135 million in 2019”, – the document said.
WFP experts stress that in this situation it is vital to maintain a food aid programme, including WFP’s own programmes that provide food to nearly 100 million people.
According to WFP, the majority of the people who faced nutritional deficiencies in 2019 lived in countries affected by conflict (77 million people), climate change (34 million) and economic crises (24 million). Ten countries were most affected: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Nigeria, South Sudan, Syria, the Sudan, Venezuela and Yemen.