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The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said on Wednesday that hundreds of thousands more people had slipped into the category of severe hunger in Zimbabwe, where more than half the population faces hunger.
He said a recent study revealed that “the number of Zimbabweans with acute food insecurity had risen to 4.3 million, from 3.8 million at the end of last year.”
According to the United Nations, in total, 7.7 million people, more than half of the population were food insecure and needed multi-sectoral humanitarian support.
In previous years of famine, primarily the rural population would need food aid, but lately millions of urban dwellers need it.
“With most Zimbabweans already struggling to put food on the table, the Covid-19 pandemic risks even greater and deeper despair,” said Eddie Rowe, WFP country director for Zimbabwe.
Catastrophe
“We all must do everything possible to prevent this tragedy from becoming a catastrophe,” he said in a statement.
WFP launched a “flash” appeal on Wednesday for $ 130 million to feed people as part of its $ 472 million food aid that runs through December.
Hyperinflation, which stood at more than 540% in February, has pushed basic food prices beyond the means of most people.
The country’s economy has been in a depression for more than a decade, experiencing multiple climatic and economic shocks, including a chronic shortage of cash, fuel, medicine and food.
WFP warned that the coronavirus that has so far infected 11 and killed one “threatens to exacerbate Zimbabwe’s severe hunger and economic crises, dramatically affecting people’s lives in urban and rural areas.
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