August 23, 2022 — David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, said,
“Six months of war has taken a terrible toll – not just on Ukrainian civilians but civilians worldwide. IRC’s clients are dealing with the devastating global repercussions - from East Africa to the Sahel to the Middle East to Central America.
"In East Africa, a perfect storm of continued drought, the impact of the blockade on Ukraine's ports, and the economic fallout from the war is causing mass starvation. Up to 20 million people will face extreme hunger by September, with 3 million already at risk of losing their lives without urgent international funding.
In the Sahel, which is experiencing the highest levels of severe food insecurity since 2014, up to 18 million people are experiencing severe hunger.
"In the Middle East, the war in Ukraine has sent prices of wheat and fuel spiralling, punishing Syrian refugees the hardest as expenditures far outstrip limited incomes.
In Central America, prices for staple foods like white maize are well above the five-year average. Together with climate change and ongoing insecurity, nearly 13 million people across the region face growing hunger.
"Six months on, international attention must be devoted urgently not only to the mounting toll on Ukrainian civilians caught in the greatest European displacement crisis since WW2, but on the great and growing global fallout of this war on the world’s most vulnerable.”