'Not enough': Oxfam accuses governments of not helping poor countries amid pandemic

The pandemic has negatively affected millions of people all around the world, and especially the poor countries where people are struggling to get enough food to eat.

The NGO Oxfam has now published a report urging the first-world countries to come forward and help the poor countries come out of food insecurity.

As per the report, titled"Later Will Be Too Late", Oxfam has claimed that the international community's response to global food insecurity is"dangerously inadequate".

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"The threat of 'Covid famines' and widespread extreme hunger is setting off every alarm bell within the international community, but so far sluggish funding is hampering humanitarian agencies' efforts to deliver urgent assistance to people in need," Oxfam wrote.

Oxfam has claimed that more than 55 million people are facing extreme hunger in mainly seven countries:Afghanistan, Somalia, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. The food security in these countries, specifically, is"abysmally low".

The organisation also accused countries of offering no funding at all for five out of seven countries. Funding is highly scarce forcoronavirus-related nutrition assistance part of the UN's $10.3-billion humanitarian appeal, the report said.

"As of today, donors have pledged just 28 per cent of the UN Covid appeal that was launched back in March this year," Oxfam said. As per the report, "some of the worst funded sectors are food security and nutrition."

However, it is not just food and security. These countries are also "chronically under-funded" in other important sectors such asgender-based violence, protection, health, and water, sanitation and hygiene.