Every eleventh person in the world is starving

(Patria) - Every eleventh person in the world is starving. The climate crisis, wars, inequality, and reduced funding threaten past successes in the fight against hunger.

This was stated in the annual report of the German organization for aid to the hungry (Deutsche Welthungerhilfe) for 2024, presented yesterday in Berlin, reports Deutsche Welle.

Despite all difficulties, this private humanitarian organization, which relies on state support and donations, tries to instill hope.

- Our goal, a world without hunger, is still achievable, but only if it is a priority, politically desired, and sufficiently financed - the organization states.

A look at reality, however, shows that the trend has been dramatically in the opposite direction for years - 733 million people worldwide currently suffer from chronic malnutrition.

Since 2019, this number has increased by 152 million. And the situation is likely to worsen further, as the US and Germany, the most important donor countries, have significantly reduced their budgets for development cooperation and humanitarian aid.

- Budget cuts cost human lives. What looks like a cost-saving measure on paper means hunger, flight, or even death for millions of people - says the president of the aid organization, Marlehn Thieme.

Eradicating hunger must remain a political priority, she demands, given the increasing number of wars and crises. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and people in Sudan are particularly affected.

There, as well as in other regions, humanitarian organizations are increasingly restricted in their access, criticizes the Secretary-General of the aid organization, Mathias Mogge.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is among the worst he has seen in over 30 years of work.

According to the report, more than 90 percent of people were displaced since the beginning of the war between the terrorist organization Hamas and Israel. Almost two million people at the end of 2024 depended on food aid, and 345,000 of them were on the brink of starvation.

- Even the scientists of the aid organization had nothing left to eat. A 25-kilogram bag of wheat costs 520 dollars. That's a sign that there's simply nothing left - says Mogge.

Unlike Gaza, there are very few images of the suffering of people in Sudan.

- Nobody goes there, so there is little news about it - Mogge describes the difference in media coverage. This is often the trigger for organizations like the World Food Programme to act.

Since April 2023, the Sudanese army has been engaged in fierce fighting with the paramilitary group calling itself the "Rapid Support Forces".

More than eleven million people are displaced within the country. Around 25 million, according to United Nations (UN) data, need humanitarian aid, which is approximately half of the population.

In Sudan, the work of humanitarians, according to Mogge, is more dangerous than elsewhere.

- We still have employees in the field who have to hide at times. Every time we get food that we can distribute, employees gather and try to organize the distribution - says Mogge.

But it's not just in Sudan that reactions to impending disasters have often been too late, the Secretary-General admits self-critically. Therefore, the organization has established a humanitarian aid forecasting system so that it can react more quickly to crises and wars, as well as the consequences of climate change.

- Then aid funds are paid out in advance so that people do not lose everything they own - livestock, money, and agricultural tools, but can keep them as much as possible, and do not have to start from scratch after a disaster - explains Mogge.

Another crisis hotspot for the aid organization is Syria, where the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic even after the change of government in December 2024.

Almost 15 million inhabitants cannot secure adequate nutrition without help. The economy has been completely destroyed after 14 years of civil war. Everything is lacking: water, food, electricity, healthcare, schools.

At the end of the year, the price of bread in Aleppo rose by as much as 900 percent in one month, according to the organization's annual report. To ensure supply, support is provided to bakeries.

Syria is one of 37 countries and regions where the organization is currently active. It cooperates with more than 300 partners on the ground.

For its work, this German organization, founded in 1962, had around 384 million euros available in 2024. Of this, almost 87 million came from donations.

The largest contribution, amounting to 147 million euros, came from the German Ministry for Development. The remainder was contributed by international institutions, including the UN World Food Programme and the European Commission.

The central sentence in the annual report reads: "Hunger and violent conflicts are closely linked: without a secure food supply, it is difficult to achieve peace, and without peace, it is almost impossible to defeat hunger."

In this context, the organization's president, Marlehn Thieme, appeals to the international community and the German government to end conflicts through political initiatives and diplomatic solutions.

- Investments in weapons alone do not bring security - she emphasizes, alluding to globally rising military spending.

Germany also plans to increase its military budget from two to five percent of GDP. While this budget item will more than double in the medium term, humanitarian emergency aid financed by the Foreign Ministry for 2025 is expected to be halved - to one billion euros.

At the same time, development cooperation spending is falling below the target level of 0.7 percent, which has been set as an obligation.

"With this, the federal government is abandoning international obligations not only financially but also politically," criticized the World Hunger Aid Organization together with the children's aid organization Terre des Hommes back in June.

For now, there are no indications that this situation might change.