UN: after pandemic, Russian invasion of Ukraine aggravates world hunger

World hunger was already on the rise due to the pandemic and the situation was aggravated by the war in Ukraine, a region that produces grains, fertilizers and energy, warned the United Nations (UN).

“We weren’t well even before the pandemic, hunger was on the rise and then the pandemic happened”, expressed Gabriel Ferrero de Loma-Osorio, director of the Committee for World Food Security, a UN-affiliated agency dedicated to combating world hunger.

The official said that some 161 million more people suffer from hunger today compared to before the pandemic, for a total of 821 million.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has had a strong impact on food availability and prices, “so unfortunately we have to be cautious, but we are seeing a major effect on global food security.”

He added that countries have to be more responsible in managing their food resources. Bangladesh, for example, imports almost half of its wheat from Russia and the Ukraine.