Ahead of World Food Day, WFP Estimates 800 Million People Face Chronic Hunger

Ahead of World Food Day, the World Food Programme (WFP) said more than 800 million people, one in nine people globally, are facing chronic hunger and are unable to meet their basic food requirements.

World Food Day is marked on Wednesday (16 Oct). WFP said, for the most part, the causes of hunger remain the same – conflict, the climate crisis and economic marginalization. 

WFP said it was working to bring food assistance to more than 80 million of those worst affected by hunger in more than 80 countries around the world. These include countries like Yemen, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

WFP said the number of undernourished people in 2017 increased to 821 million from around 804 million in 2016. That is more than the population of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan combined.

WFP said some two billion people live in countries where development is affected by fragility, conflict and high levels of violence, and about half the world’s poor live in fragile or conflict-affected states. It noted that 60 percent of the hungry people in the world live in war zones.

WFP added that some 95 million people are facing acute food insecurity while also affected by climate extremes, and 22 million people are displaced annually due to climate-related disasters. WFP warned that 100 million people could be forced into extreme poverty due to climate change.

Last year, there were 28 million new displacements associated with conflict (10.8 million) and disasters (17.2 million) across 148 countries and territories. More than 60 percent of new displacements were triggered by disasters and 39 percent by conflict and violence~WFP

Safety Reforms in Bangladesh Garment Sector Risk ‘Losing Momentum’

About one-fifth of Bangladesh’s ready-made garment factories do not meet fire, electrical and structural safety standards 11 years after the collapse of Rana Plaza that left more than 1,100 garment workers dead, according to an industry monitoring body.

Read More

VOA Asia Weekly:The Story of an Exiled Chinese Journalist

Lawmakers in the Solomon Islands elect a new prime minister.Southeast Asia May Day protests. Record heat wave temperatures. Why sumo wrestlers held crying babies.

Read More

Report Warns,Climate Change Set to Cut Average Income by 19%

According to a new report by Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, which was published in the journal Nature, the average income of people around the world will be cut by one-fifth by the middle of the century due to climate change.

Read More

Timor-Leste Seeks Economic Lifeline as Oil Wealth Dwindles

Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, has made significant strides since its tumultuous birth in 2002, but the economic impact of the plunder of resources of centuries of Portuguese colonial rule and the looting, pillage, and large-scale destruction of property during a 24-year Indonesian occupation can still be felt today.

Read More

South Africa Prepares to End Lion Hunting in Captivity

From allowing captive-bred lion hunting to selling lion bones to East Asia for their alleged “medicinal” qualities, South Africa’s treatment of its big cats has long tarnished its reputation for conservation. However, the country is now ending all of that.

Read More

UN Secretary-General Meets with Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres meets with the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls.

Read More

On Both US Coasts,Pro Palestinian Encampment Protesters Hold Ground

Despite college administrations’ warnings, anti-Gaza war protests on campuses are still going strong and new ones are being launched.

Read More

Philippine Police Arrest 3 Suspects Over On-Air Killing of Broadcaster

Police in the Philippines have arrested three men suspected in the killing of community radio broadcaster Juan Jumalon, who was gunned down while broadcasting live on Facebook. 

Read More

• VOA Asia Weekly:The Story of an Exiled Chinese Journalist
• Report Warns,Climate Change Set to Cut Average Income by 19%
• Timor-Leste Seeks Economic Lifeline as Oil Wealth Dwindles
• South Africa Prepares to End Lion Hunting in Captivity
• UN Secretary-General Meets with Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls

If you want to contact us

Subscribe Our Latest Updates

Subscribe Our You Tube Channel