Wed 18 November 2020:
The United Nations released $100 million of emergency funding on Tuesday to stave off the risk of famine in seven countries most at risk from a hunger epidemic fueled by conflict, economic decline, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
A statement overnight said $80 million of the money will go to Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. Another $20 million has been set aside for “anticipatory action to fight hunger in Ethiopia,” where deadly fighting erupted this month in its rebellious northern Tigray region.
“Without immediate action, famine could be a reality in the coming months in parts of Burkina Faso, northeast Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. This would be the first time famine has been declared since 2017 in parts of South Sudan,” the statement said.
Mark Lowcock, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said “Famines result in agonizing and humiliating deaths. They fuel conflict and war. They trigger mass displacement. Their impact on a country is devasting and long lasting. No one should view a slide into famine as an inevitable side effect of this pandemic. If it happens it is because the world has allowed it to happen.”
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