COVID-�� NOT JUST A HEALTH CRISIS FOR WORLD’S POOREST TRÓCAIRE’S CHRISTMAS APPEAL ASKS PEOPLE IN IRELAND TO HELP THE WORLD’S POOREST PEOPLE WHO ARE FACING INTO MONTHS OF HUNGER BECAUSE OF AN INABILITY TO EARN MONEY DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS. BY DAVID O'HARE
COVID-19
h a s devastated the ability of the world’s poorest people to earn money and produce food. Lockdowns and restrictions, while necessary to protect public health, have pushed already desperately poor people over the edge and into extreme poverty. With no income, no social welfare supports, no markets to sell their goods and no school feeding programmes they are facing into a second pandemic: hunger. It’s not just a health crisis – for the world’s poorest people, this is about having money and food to survive each day.
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Chrisy Kimwendo from Chilipaine, Zomba, Malawi at the new village water pump provided by Trócaire. Photo: Alan Whelan/Trócaire
REALITY DECEMBER 2020
POVERTY FOLLOWING COVID The number of people in the world facing hunger this Christmas has doubled due to COVID-19 and other crises like conflict and climate change. The World Food Programme has estimated that 270 million people are “marching toward the brink of starvation”. This is double the amount who faced hunger this time last year. WFP executive director David Beasley said that “a wave of hunger and famine still threatens to sweep across the globe. Quite frankly, 2021 will be a makeor-break year.”
