11 people die of hunger each minute around the globe

Agencies | Cairo

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The anti-poverty organization Oxfam says 11 people die of hunger each minute and that the number facing famine-like conditions around the globe has increased six times over the last year, said AP.

In a report titled “The Hunger Virus Multiplies,” Oxfam said Thursday that the death toll from famine outpaces that of COVID-19, which kills around seven people per minute.

 “The statistics are staggering, but we must remember that these figures are made up of individual people facing unimaginable suffering. Even one person is too many,” said Oxfam America’s President and CEO Abby Maxman.

 The humanitarian group also said that 155 million people around the world now live at crisis levels of food insecurity or worse — some 20 million more than last year. Around two-thirds of them face hunger because their country is in military conflict.

 “Today, unrelenting conflict on top of the COVID-19 economic fallout, and a worsening climate crisis have pushed more than 520,000 people to the brink of starvation,” added Maxman. “Instead of battling the pandemic, warring parties fought each other, too often landing the last blow to millions already battered by weather disasters and economic shocks.”