The war in Ukraine, climate change and the pandemic resulted in an unprecedented escalation in food prices, however, millions across the world are facing a much more alarming situation, with women and girls suffering the most.
According to a recent Plan International report, the hunger crisis is reaching unprecedented proportions. 928 million people worldwide are suffering from hunger, 148 million more than last year, of whom 70% are girls and women.
"When food is scarce, girls often eat less and are the last to eat," said National Director of Plan International Isabelle Verhaegen. The organisation stressed the situation is particularly worrying in countries like Mali and Ethiopia, but also in Haiti and Laos.
The reasons for the current food crisis, which in turn is fuelling the hunger crisis, are manifold and complex, from climate change causing storms and droughts that are destroying harvests worldwide to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which is often named the world's granary.
"The Ukrainian harvest normally feeds 400 million people," said Dr Unni Krishnan, Humanitarian Director at Plan International.
"Each day that the conflict continues, the devastating effects are more and more felt. Rapidly rising food prices make a bad situation that much worse."
Missing school and forced marriages
The hike in food prices is impacting families and households across the world but is also it intensifying gender inequality.
For women from precarious backgrounds, food crises result in them eating less to feed their own children, but they also run other risks. For example, they are forced to miss school and work instead to make more money.
Elema, 18, and her mother at two of their remaining cattle. Credit: Plan International
"After we lost our cattle due to the drought, I had to quit school to help my mother by collecting and selling firewood," Elema (18) from Ethiopia testified.
Related News
- International Women's Day: 'Climate change isn’t gender neutral'
- 'Affected first and worst': Ukrainian women and girls at increased risk of sexual violence
As girls are a source of income for their families in some countries, they are also at greater risk of child marriage, early pregnancy and sexual exploitation as a result of the hunger crisis.
Together with Consortium 12-12, Plan International is scaling up humanitarian assistance in the most affected countries to provide school meals and other food packages. "We remain very active in Ukraine, but see that the global impact of this conflict remains under-reported."
