 One billion hungry on World Food Day
United Nations, 2008 Oct 16, Press TV
World food crisis dimmed by financial meltdown
The World Food Day has once again raised the issue of ever-increasing global hunger, less addressed since the world financial crisis hit.
As can be expected, developing countries are feeling the strain of rising food, fuel and electricity prices the most, and even in the United States and Britain more than 20% of people have had to cut back on what they eat.
This weekend, the World Bank announced that the food crisis has resulted in an extra 44 million people becoming malnourished in 2008, bringing the total of hungry people to almost one billion - nearly one in seven people now goes hungry.
UN's Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has called for resolute action to tackle poverty and hunger, as people around the globe say they are not satisfied with what their governments are doing to contain the problem.
Development experts say a global community able to commit hundreds of billions to bolstering banks should be willing to commit a fraction of that to fighting crippling world hunger, but the experts worry that donors may cite the financial meltdown as a reason not to do more.
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has also expressed concern, warning that the global financial crisis cannot be used as "an excuse for inaction" in the worsening battle against "wrenching hunger" across the developing world.
The UN Economic Commission for Africa is worried the global financial crisis could hamper efforts to alleviate hunger in Africa, with 13.5 million people in Ethiopia alone needing assistance according to the International aid agency Oxfam.
Meanwhile food insecurity in the East Asia and Pacific Region is fast becoming a chronic problem, with a report released today showing that people in parts of East Timor are now facing up to five months a year without enough food to eat.
The UN has estimated that if progress towards ending hunger and extreme poverty (known as Millennium Development Goal 1) is to stay on course, between US$25 billion and US$40 billion of new funds must be spent each year on remedying the current food crisis. As the world's financial woes worsen, this investment is more urgent than ever.
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