Will There Be A Post COVID 19 Famine?

Given that it has already disrupted food production in sensitive regions of the world will there be more people dying of hunger than of the COVID 19 virus?

By: Ringo Bones

The charity group Oxfam and the United Nations recently issued a warning that more people could eventually die of hunger than from the COVID 19 virus. Starvation warnings are now posted in vulnerable parts of the world and these regions are not necessary, at the moment, experiencing armed conflict. But could starvation eventually take more lives than from the COVID 19 virus?

According to Oxfam, COVID 19 is already disrupting food production in poorer parts of Africa currently not experiencing armed conflict. And basing on recently imposed lockdown measures, COVID 19 could complicate the delivery of food aid and the resulting economic downturn due to the coronavirus lockdown caused runaway unemployment will make charitable fundraising activities much more difficult. The UN says up to 122-millon people worldwide could be facing starvation by the end of 2020. And according to Oxfam, up to 12,000 people a die could die of hunger by the end of 2020. By way of comparison, the global death peak of COVID 19 back in April 2020 was only 10,000 deaths per day, which is quite a sobering statistic any way you put it.

The recent Oxfam briefing also reveals the world’s ten worst hunger hotspots, places such as Venezuela and South Sudan where the food crisis is most severe and getting worse as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic. It also highlights emerging epicenters of hunger – middle income countries such as India, South Africa and Brazil – where millions of people who were barely managing have been tipped over the edge by the pandemic.