United Nations chief Antonio Guterres warned that more than 49 million additional people are expected to fall into extreme poverty this year due to the Covid-19 crisis and the continuing decline in global GDP. He has called for immediate action to avoid a food emergency in the world due to the Corona crisis.
The UN chief cautioned that a world-born food emergency could bring real effects on millions of children and adults. He said that 82 crore people are hungry in the world and the development of about 14.4 crore children under 5 years of age is being affected.
He expressed concern that the corona epidemic is making these conditions worse. The Secretary-General said, “There is enough food to feed the world’s 7.8 billion population, but our food systems are failing.”
He emphasized on the need to designate food and nutrition services and to conserve food workers. He said that all countries should ensure supply of nutritious food to young children, pregnant and lactating women and elderly and other groups.