Status: 05/18/2022 12:25 p.m
Before the G7 ministerial meeting in Germany, aid organizations are calling for measures to be taken against global hunger. The need is escalating in East Africa in particular – and the Ukraine war threatens to aggravate the situation.
The development, finance and health ministers of the G7 are meeting in Berlin and near Bonn this week. Aid organizations are demanding swift action from them to combat the global supply and debt crisis.
demand for debt relief
The corona pandemic has already worsened the crises in poorer countries. But now the effects of the war in Ukraine threatened to exacerbate them further. Therefore, it is now necessary to provide financial support to countries that are particularly affected, explained the Catholic aid organization Misereor and the debt relief campaign erlassjahr.de.
135 of 148 countries worldwide are critically indebted, more than three times as many as before the corona pandemic, warned Klaus Schilder, an expert in development finance at Misereor. Without debt relief, they also lack the money to invest in climate protection and in the fight against corona and other diseases.
Aid organization One is also demanding a long-term plan against global hunger from the G7, as well as a strategy for pandemic preparedness and an economic stimulus package for Africa.
Famine in East Africa
The situation in the drought regions of East Africa is particularly dramatic. Parts of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are currently experiencing the worst drought in four decades. In many places, crops are drying up and livestock are dying. According to a report by the organizations Oxfam and Save the Children, one person dies of hunger there every 48 seconds.
Since 2021, the number of people suffering from hunger in the region has more than doubled from ten million to over 23 million. The United Nations warns that 350,000 children could starve to death in Somalia alone if the international community does not act quickly. About four billion dollars are needed for emergency aid.
The political will is lacking
Oxfam and Save the Children accuse the global community of failure. It’s not a lack of resources, it’s a lack of political will. The quick and comprehensive reactions to the corona pandemic and the war in Ukraine showed that the international community can successfully mobilize resources to alleviate suffering – if only there was the will to do so. So far, however, the money for the aid in East Africa is far from sufficient.
Oxfam also stressed that the patents for Covid-19 vaccines should be released to poorer countries. All people worldwide should have fair access to vaccines. To this end, the G7 countries should exhaust all possibilities to facilitate the production and supply of vaccines.
G7 discuss supply crisis
The health and development ministers of the G7 countries will meet in Berlin until Friday. The meeting of the G7 finance ministers takes place in Koenigswinter near Bonn. One of the topics of the meetings will be measures to counteract the supply crisis in the wake of the Ukraine war. Germany currently holds the presidency of the G7 and wants to play a role in global food security.
With information from Antje Diekhans, Studio East and Central Africa.