UN warns of world famine of “biblical proportions” due to pandemic

The world could suffer famines of “biblical proportions” in the coming years due to the economic crisis resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

This is according to the UN World Food Programme, which says that the number of acutely food-insecure people could almost double to 265 million.

The world is facing not only “a global health pandemic, but also a global humanitarian catastrophe” that requires urgent action to prevent it, said the head of the U.N. food aid agency.

“If we do not prepare and act now to ensure access, avoid funding shortfalls and trade disruptions, we could face multiple famines of biblical proportions in a few months,” warned U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley.

“Closures and the economic recession are expected to cause a significant loss of income among the working poor. Remittances from abroad will also fall dramatically, hurting countries like Haiti, Nepal or Somalia, to name just a few examples,” Beasley said.

130 million people are on the verge of starvation

The high official estimates that the number of people facing hunger today is 135 million, with an additional 130 million on the verge of starvation caused by the coronavirus. “That’s a total of 265 million people,” Beasley said in a statement to the Security Council.

The pandemic could be catastrophic for millions of people whose existence was already hanging by a thread. Populations in areas hit by conflict, economic crisis or climate change. These include Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Southern Sudan, Syria and Haiti.

Even before the pandemic struck, parts of East Africa and South Asia were suffering severe food shortages due to drought and one of the worst locust infestations in recent decades.

300,000 people could starve to death every day

According to Beasley, for millions of civilians in affected nations “famine is a very real and dangerous possibility. “If we cannot reach these people with the vital aid they need, our analysis shows that 300,000 people could starve to death every day for a period of three months. This does not include the increase in starvation due to covid-19,” he said.

The senior official stressed that time is against us, so “we must act wisely and quickly”. “I believe that with our experience and our partnerships, we can put together the necessary teams and programmes to ensure that the covid-19 pandemic does not turn into a catastrophic human and food crisis,” he said.

“We’re talking about people in extreme conditions, states of emergency, people literally marching to the brink of hunger. If we don’t get food to the people, they will die.”

“These countries may face an unbearable trade-off between saving lives or livelihoods or, at worst, saving people from the coronavirus to starve to death,” Beasley said in the report.

Earlier, Arif Husain, WFP’s chief economist, announced that the agency estimates it will need between $10 billion and $12 billion for its assistance programs this year, up from a record $8.3 billion last year.

Trusting God

Although these are the forecasts of the organizations worldwide, as God’s children we must hold onto the faith and believe in the countless promises that God has left in His word. He has promised that “in times of famine we shall be filled” (Psalm 37:19), and that “He will supply all our needs” (Philippians 4:19).

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