Hunger rising sharply in Syria: WFP
GBNEWS24DESK//
Hunger and malnutrition are rising sharply in Syria and more than half its population is short of food after 12 years of war, economic pressures and last month’s earthquake, the World Food Program said yesterday.
“The situation is worse than ever in Syria, the United Nations agency’s Middle East director, Corrine Fleischer, told Reuters.
About 55 percent of Syria’s population of some 12.1 million people are food insecure and a further 2.9 million are at risk of sliding into hunger, a WFP report said.
Data show malnutrition is rising and that stunting and maternal malnutrition rates are at unprecedented levels.
“We’re very, very concerned that hunger is on a steep rise in Syria,” Fleischer said.
An earthquake in February which killed at least 53,000 across Syria and Turkey came on top of social and economic hardship of 12 years of war and a weakening Syrian pound. As agencies responded to the earthquake, the head of the WFP a month ago called on authorities in northwestern Syria, which is controlled by insurgents at war with forces loyal to President Assad, to stop blocking access to the area.
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