European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, has opened the “Food crises and COVID-19” side-event organised by the Global Network Against Food Crises on the margins of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
“In April, we announced that more than 135 million people suffer from acute hunger and malnutrition throughout the world. This was without considering the impact of coronavirus on food systems,” said Commissioner Lenarčič. “In these difficult times, it is crucial to coordinate our efforts with those of other global actors. The Global Network Against Food Crises was created specifically for this purpose. We need to reinforce it and deploy it in all its dimensions, in particular in the field.”
Through its humanitarian food assistance, the European Union aims to ensure the availability of, access to, and consumption of safe and nutritious food for the most hungry and vulnerable people in crises.
Since 2010, the EU has been rolling out its humanitarian food assistance policy and supported more than 100 million people lacking access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food. Overall, almost one fourth of the EU annual humanitarian aid budget is used to provide emergency food assistance and nutrition, making the EU one of the world's major donors in this sector.
© European Union, 2020.