A person is dying every four seconds due to hunger: NGOs

One person is dying of hunger every four seconds, warned over 200 NGOs in an open letter to world leaders gathering in New York for United Nations General Assembly.

238 NGOs from 75 countries have taken the initiative to sound the bell for global policymakers. The list includes NGOs like Oxfam, Save the Children and Plan International. The NGOs expressed outrage at skyrocketing levels of hunger globally.

"A staggering 345 million people are now experiencing acute hunger, a number that has more than doubled since 2019," they said in a statement.

"Despite promises from world leaders to never allow famine again in the 21st century, famine is once more imminent in Somalia. Around the world, 50 million people are on the brink of starvation in 45 countries," they said.

The NGOs pointed out that an estimated 19,700 people were dying of hunger every day. This translates to one person dying every four seconds.

"It is abysmal that with all the technology in agriculture and harvesting techniques today we are still talking about famine in the 21st century," Mohanna Ahmed Ali Eljabaly from the Yemen Family Care Association, one of the letter's signatories, said in the statement.

"This is not about one country or one continent and hunger never only has one cause. This is about the injustice of the whole of humanity," he said.

"We must not wait a moment longer to focus both on providing immediate lifesaving food and longer-term support so people can take charge of their futures and provide for themselves and their families."

(With inputs from agencies)

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