Compassion UK is appealing for more support for children and families living with hunger and malnutrition in the world’s poorest communities.

The call coincides with World Hunger Day on Friday and follows a recent report from the UN World Food Programme estimating that 270 million people are at risk of starvation across 20 hotspot countries, including Ecuador, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso. 

Compassion is warning that Covid-19 has only exacerbated existing drivers of food insecurity like conflict, weak economies, and climate change. 

Many families have lost their income because of the pandemic, while 370 million children have been unable to attend school – meaning they are missing out on the free meals they would normally receive there. 

Compassion, which is working through local partners in some of the hotspot countries highlighted by the UN, says that food insecurity will have a “domino effect” on children’s health and education unless their families receive holistic support to help them out of poverty. 

Sidney Muisyo, Vice President of Global Program said, “At a time when developed nations like the UK are beginning to recover from the virus, I fear they will not respond with urgency to the needs of the rest of the developing world.

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