A famine is a phenomenon in which a large proportion of the population of a region or country are so undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common.
Today, conflict is the biggest famine driver according to the World Food Programme, while climate change and the fallout of COVID-19 are contributing to sharply increasing hunger numbers.
Measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 have hit economies worldwide, pushing millions into unemployment and poverty, and leaving governments and donors with fewer resources to address the food and nutritional needs of those most vulnerable.
[citation needed] In his book on famine, Fred Cuny stated that "the chances of saving lives at the outset of a relief operation are greatly reduced when food is imported.
He went on to say that "evidence suggests the massive food shipments sent to Somalia in 1992 had little impact on the outcome of the famine... and that by the time it arrived in sufficient, steady quantities in the rural areas, the death rate had peaked and was already declining."
The Irish aid agency Concern is piloting a method through a mobile phone operator, Safaricom, which runs a money transfer program that allows cash to be sent from one part of the country to another.
], Ethiopia has been pioneering a program that has now become part of the World Bank's prescribed recipe for coping with a food crisis and, as a result, it had been seen by aid organizations as a model of how to best help hungry nations.
After the malnourished children recover enough to be able to digest complex foods, products containing higher levels of protein can be used to increase muscle growth.
[10][11] Today, the Peace Corps, religious groups, and charities feed hungry people all over the world, especially in countries hardest hit by famine.