Food is there. Reaching it is the problem

From Afghanistan to Gaza, the UN describes hunger caused less by a lack of food than by a lack of means to get it.

More than a quarter of humanity struggles to get enough to eat, even though the world produces enough food for everyone, the UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, said this week ^[1]. He blamed injustice and the denial of human rights for hunger in a world of plenty ^[1].

Afghanistan shows the pattern across a whole country. After warnings of extreme hunger, the UN reports that food is available, but out of reach for millions of people ^[2].

Where aid fills the gap, money decides how much of it reaches people. The World Food Programme said it has cut food assistance to hungry families in the Gaza Strip by roughly a third because of funding shortages, a cut that will affect about 500,000 people as winter approaches ^[3].

In each case the shortage the sources describe is not of food itself, but of the means to reach it: income, access and funding ^[1][2][3].

Sources

1. Hunger is ‘an avoidable tragedy’ in a world of plenty: TürkUN News · All · news.un.org
2. ‘One step away from famine’: Inside Afghanistan’s hunger crisisUN News · All · news.un.org
3. Gaza: Funding cuts leave half a million without food assistanceUN News · Peace and Security · news.un.org