155 million faced acute food insecurity in 2020
The worst-affected countries last year were Burkina Faso, South Sudan and Yemen. Outside Africa, Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and Haiti featured were among the 10 worst food crises last year.
By Robin Gomes
At least 155 million people faced crisis levels of food insecurity in 2020 because of conflict, extreme weather events and economic shocks linked in part to Covid-19. This is an increase of 20 million over the previous year, 2019, when 135 million people in 55 countries and territories faced acute food crisis, which was an already record year for acute food insecurity.
The grim figures in the latest Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2021 released by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) on Wednesday, are a stark warning that the factors are continuing to push millions of people into acute food insecurity this year too. While conflict will remain the major driver of food crises in 2021, the report said, Cov
UNICEF says Covid-19 hitting children hard in South Asia
The UN’s children fund says the first wave of Covid-19 cost the lives of 228,000 children and 11,000 mothers in the region.
By Robin Gomes
The United Nations children’s fund, UNICEF, is calling on South Asian governments to do everything possible to stop the catastrophe of Covid-19 as soon as possible, saying the virus is disproportionately hitting children in greater numbers.
“The deadly new surge in South Asia threatens us all. It has the potential to reverse hard-earned global gains against the pandemic if not halted as soon as possible,” warned George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, in a statement on Tuesday.
Card. Sako pained at Iraq’s Covid-19 hospital fire
The Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church blames the tragedy on corrupt authorities who misappropriate public funds, depriving people of adequate services.
By Robin Gomes
The head of the Chaldean Catholic Church has expressed deep grief for 82 people killed in a massive blaze that erupted Saturday night in a hospital for Covid-19 patients in Baghdad, Iraq. The fire also injured 110 others. The casualties included relatives tending to their patients.
“It was with great pain and sadness that we received the news, early morning, of a fire in Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital in Baghdad, which is designated for treating people with the Corona pandemic, and the death of more than eighty people and the wounding of many,” Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, wrote in a condolence message on Sunday.
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