At least 155 million people experienced acute food insecurity at Crisis or worse levels (IPC/CH Phase 3-5) across 55 countries/territories in 2020
A recent report launched by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) – an international alliance of the UN, the EU, governmental and non-governmental agencies working to tackle food crises together has found that the number of people facing acute food insecurity and needing urgent life and livelihood-saving assistance has hit a five-year high in 2020 in countries beset by food crises.
Report’s key findings:
The Global Network Against Food Crises report reveals that at least 155 million people experienced acute food insecurity at Crisis or worse levels (IPC/CH Phase 3-5) across 55 countries/territories in 2020 – an increase of around 20 million people from the previous year, and raises a stark warning about a worrisome trend: acute food insecurity has kept up its relentless rise since 2017 – the first edition of the report.
Of these, around 133000 people were classified in the most severe phase of acute food insecurity in 2020 – Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5) – in Burkina Faso, South Sudan and Yemen where urgent action was needed to avert widespread death and a collapse of livelihoods.
At least another 28 million people faced Emergency (IPC/CH Phase 4) level of acute food insecurity in 2020.
Thirty-nine countries/territories have experienced food crises during the five years that the GNAFC has been publishing its annual report; in these countries/territories, the population affected by high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC/CH Phase 3-5) increased from 94 to 147 million people between 2016 and 2020.
Additionally, in the 55 food-crisis countries/territories covered by the report, over 75 million children under five were stunted (too short) and over 15 million wasted (too thin) in 2020.