WPF’s Beasley Gives Starvation Death Toll as 7 Million People This Year, and May Grow ‘3, 4, 5 Times’

Oct. 14, 2020 (EIRNS)—Director of the UN World Food Program David Beasley, which was declared Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oct. 9, stated yesterday that 7 million people have died of hunger this year and that figure could increase by “3, 4, 5 times” or more. The WPF needs to raise $6.8 billion in the next six months in order to fight the famine, he stressed, pointing out that it had only gotten $1.6 billion.

“We’ve got a lot more money to raise to make certain we avert famine,” Beasley said at an Oct. 13 conference organized in Rome by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He said 7 million people had died from hunger this year, even as the COVID-19 pandemic claimed a further 1 million lives worldwide, and that “If we don’t sort out COVID, the hunger death rate could be 3, 4, 5 times that.”

“If you think about the wealth on Earth today we shouldn’t see one single child hungry or die from starvation,” insisted Beasley. He urged donors, including governments and institutions, as well as the 2,000 or more billionaires in the world, with a combined net worth of $8 trillion, to donate to the WFP.

He also warned that COVID-19 shutdowns are not only hindering the delivery of food but also making other problems worse, disrupting delivery of vaccinations and treatments for illnesses. “There is a grave danger that many more people will die from the broader economic and social consequences of COVID-19 than from the virus itself, especially in Africa,” Beasley said.