Aid Groups: Gaza, Haiti Are Facing Famine
2024-03-21
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1Aid groups warn that famine, a widespread lack of food, will soon strike two troubled places: Gaza and Haiti.
2The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is an organization that follows hunger worldwide.
3On Monday, the group warned that more than one million Gazans could face famine if Israel expands its offensive in the southern city of Rafah.
4About half of the territory's people are crowded into the city.
5The report says almost all of them are struggling to get enough food already.
6"This is the largest number of people facing imminent famine in the world today, and it has only taken five months to occur," said Matthew Hollingworth, the acting World Food Program country director for the Israeli-occupied territories.
7The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the expected famine "entirely manmade," adding, "starvation is used as a weapon of war."
8Aid groups say that international efforts to ship food by air and sea are too small and too few.
9The IPC reported that famine could happen in Gaza any time between now and May if fighting does not stop.
10In Haiti, four million people need help with food and about 1.4 million others are on the edge of famine, reports the United Nations World Food Program.
11Aids organizations compared the situation in Haiti to a war zone. Criminal groups, or gangs, control many parts of the country and prevent aid from reaching its people.
12Only a few aid organizations have been able to restart operations shut down since February 29.
13That is when gangs began to attack.
14They burned police stations, shut down airports and raided prisons, freeing more than 4,000 prisoners.
15Less than two weeks later, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced that he would resign from office.
16Haitian citizen Erigeunes Jeffrand spoke to the Associated Press about the conditions in his country.
17He said he used to make a living selling sugar but the recent gang activity ended that.
18Criminals forced Jeffrand and his four children to flee their neighborhood.
19"My home was completely destroyed and robbed," he said. "They took everything I have. And now, they're not even letting me work."
20Jean-Martin Bauer is the Haiti director for the World Food Program.
21He said last week, "We have supplies for weeks. I'm saying weeks, not months." Bauer added, "That has me terrified."
22The IPC was developed in 2004 during the famine in Somalia. Worldwide, the group says nearly 158 million people face crisis hunger situations or worse.
23The group says famine is when an entire population or a sub-group of a population is without food, possibly causing death in the short term.
24In famine, 20 percent of households would have an extreme lack of food, 30 percent of children would suffer from severe malnutrition and at least two adults or four children per every 10,000 people would die each day because of starvation, malnutrition and disease.
25While the depth of the food crises in Haiti and Gaza is new, the underlying conditions are not, said Tobias Stillman, a director of the aid group Action Against Hunger, via email.
26Even before the war, 80 percent of Gazans depended on humanitarian aid and about half of all households did not have enough food, he said.
27In Haiti, millions were already dealing with emergency levels of hunger and crisis levels of food need.
28Death from starvation can come "surprisingly quickly," Stillman said.
29Without food, the body uses carbohydrates and fats first.
30When those are gone, muscle and organs begin to break down.
31Body systems, including digestion, start shutting down, which makes it harder to take in nutrients.
32Many times, people without food die of common infections. If that does not happen, organs shut down and the heart stops.
33Children younger than five, pregnant and breastfeeding women, old people and people with underlying health problems are most at risk.
34I'm Gena Bennett.
1Aid groups warn that famine, a widespread lack of food, will soon strike two troubled places: Gaza and Haiti. 2In Gaza 3The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is an organization that follows hunger worldwide. 4On Monday, the group warned that more than one million Gazans could face famine if Israel expands its offensive in the southern city of Rafah. About half of the territory's people are crowded into the city. The report says almost all of them are struggling to get enough food already. 5"This is the largest number of people facing imminent famine in the world today, and it has only taken five months to occur," said Matthew Hollingworth, the acting World Food Program country director for the Israeli-occupied territories. 6The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the expected famine "entirely manmade," adding, "starvation is used as a weapon of war." 7Aid groups say that international efforts to ship food by air and sea are too small and too few. The IPC reported that famine could happen in Gaza any time between now and May if fighting does not stop. 8In Haiti 9In Haiti, four million people need help with food and about 1.4 million others are on the edge of famine, reports the United Nations World Food Program. 10Aids organizations compared the situation in Haiti to a war zone. Criminal groups, or gangs, control many parts of the country and prevent aid from reaching its people. 11Only a few aid organizations have been able to restart operations shut down since February 29. That is when gangs began to attack. They burned police stations, shut down airports and raided prisons, freeing more than 4,000 prisoners. 12Less than two weeks later, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced that he would resign from office. 13Haitian citizen Erigeunes Jeffrand spoke to the Associated Press about the conditions in his country. He said he used to make a living selling sugar but the recent gang activity ended that. Criminals forced Jeffrand and his four children to flee their neighborhood. 14"My home was completely destroyed and robbed," he said. "They took everything I have. And now, they're not even letting me work." 15Jean-Martin Bauer is the Haiti director for the World Food Program. He said last week, "We have supplies for weeks. I'm saying weeks, not months." Bauer added, "That has me terrified." 16What is famine? 17The IPC was developed in 2004 during the famine in Somalia. Worldwide, the group says nearly 158 million people face crisis hunger situations or worse. 18The group says famine is when an entire population or a sub-group of a population is without food, possibly causing death in the short term. 19In famine, 20 percent of households would have an extreme lack of food, 30 percent of children would suffer from severe malnutrition and at least two adults or four children per every 10,000 people would die each day because of starvation, malnutrition and disease. 20While the depth of the food crises in Haiti and Gaza is new, the underlying conditions are not, said Tobias Stillman, a director of the aid group Action Against Hunger, via email. 21Even before the war, 80 percent of Gazans depended on humanitarian aid and about half of all households did not have enough food, he said. In Haiti, millions were already dealing with emergency levels of hunger and crisis levels of food need. 22Death from starvation can come "surprisingly quickly," Stillman said. Without food, the body uses carbohydrates and fats first. When those are gone, muscle and organs begin to break down. Body systems, including digestion, start shutting down, which makes it harder to take in nutrients. Many times, people without food die of common infections. If that does not happen, organs shut down and the heart stops. 23Children younger than five, pregnant and breastfeeding women, old people and people with underlying health problems are most at risk. 24I'm Gena Bennett. 25Hai Do adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on The Associated Press news reports. 26____________________________________ 27Words in This Story 28imminent - adj. happening very soon 29occur - v. happen 30zone - n. an area that is different than other areas 31disgestion - n. the process by which food is changed inside the body after it is eaten