A World Food Programme (WFP) official on Tuesday said here that more than 800 million people, one in nine people globally, are unable to meet their basic food requirements not just today but day after day in their lives.
Herve Verhoosel, spokesperson for the WFP, told a press briefing here Tuesday ahead of the World Food Day, which will fall on Oct. 16, that some 60 percent of these more than 800 million people facing chronic hunger are in conflict-affected countries.
Among the worst food crises are Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Syria, Sudan, South Sudan and Nigeria, he said.
Unless world leaders relentlessly pursue an end to all conflict and commit sufficient political will and funding to humanitarian efforts, he said, "what we build by day will be destroyed by night".
"For millions of people in war-torn countries such as the ones I have just mentioned, World Food Day will have a very different meaning," he noted.
