Famine occurs when a country has such a severe shortage of food that its population is threatened with acute malnutrition, starvation or death. This status is usually declared by the United Nations, sometimes in cooperation with the government of the country in question, and often with other international aid organizations or humanitarian agencies. BBC in Serbian.
Hunger is determined using the UN scale (IPC). It ranks the country's food shortage, or its insecurity, according to five "stages" of severity, with hunger as the fifth and worst.
The biggest crisis in Gaza and Sudan
According to the United Nations, famine is inevitable in the North Gazi, and it could happen between March and May 2024. It comes after several months of conflict between Israel and Gaza, after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
In Gaza, half of the population, around 1,1 million people, are starving, according to the UN scale classification (IPC). In the worst case scenario, the entire population of Gaza will be starved by July 2024. The UN said Gaza has "the highest percentage of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity ever classified by the IPC initiative for any given area or country".
UN officials also warned that the ongoing conflict in Sudan plunged the country into "one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history," which could trigger the world's worst hunger crisis.
According to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), nearly 18 million people in Sudan are facing acute food shortages as a result of the civil war that broke out in April 2023.
UNICEF states that malnutrition among young children is "beyond the worst projections", and that there have been epidemics of cholera, measles and malaria.
Worrying in other countries as well
Aid group Action Against Hunger said several other countries also had "very worrying levels of hunger". These include Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia's Tigray region, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
The VFP warned in March 2024 that Haiti - which is going through a severe political and economic crisis amid worsening gang violence - is on the "brink of a catastrophic hunger crisis". About 1,4 million people are categorized as being on the brink of starvation, with another three million at the level below.
Causes of hunger
According to the IPC, hunger and extreme hunger crises have multiple causes – they can be man-made, natural or a combination of the two. Action Against Hunger said armed conflict is "a key cause of hunger around the world".
In Sudan, insufficient food production is a big problem, which has caused high prices. They also state that the current conflict in Gaza prevents food, fuel and water on which life depends from entering that territory.
The International Rescue Committee points out that drought and failed crops, caused by extreme weather conditions, as a consequence of climate change, lead to widespread food shortages, especially in East Africa.
El Niño - a climate pattern that describes an unusual warming of water surfaces in the Pacific Ocean - has already had a negative impact on food supplies in Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Official famine
Declaring famine does not open the possibility of special funding. However, it often triggers a major international response from the UN and world governments, which can secure food supplies and allocate emergency funds.
Some humanitarian agencies such as the IRC provide solutions to malnutrition. Oxfam worked with partners in Gaza to send vouchers and cash for food as well as hygiene items. WFP works in Sudan to rebuild infrastructure, roads and schools. It also has mobile rapid response teams, which reach people in remote areas to deliver food and other aid.
Many agencies usually deliver aid before a famine is declared, just to avoid it, usually when the country has been classified as stage three or above.
