Content sections
Contact information:

Spokespersons are available. To arrange for interviews contact:

Martin Namasaka
Regional Media and Communications Advisor
Email: martin.namasaka@oxfam.org

Dorah Ntunga
Media and Communications Coordinator
Email: dorah.ntunga@oxfam.org

Notes to editors:

The Hunger Virus: How the coronavirus is fuelling hunger in a hungry world is available on request.

Stories, pictures, and video highlighting the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on hunger across the globe are available on request.

The WFP estimates that the number of people in crisis level hunger − defined as IPC level 3 or above – will increase by approximately 121 million this year because of the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic. The estimated daily mortality rate for IPC level 3 and above is 0.5−1 per 10,000 people, equating to 6,050−12,100 deaths per day due to hunger because of the pandemic before the end of 2020. The global observed daily mortality rate for COVID-19 reached its highest recorded point in April 2020 at just over 10,000 deaths per day and has ranged from approximately 5,000 to 7,000 deaths per day in the months since then according to data from John Hopkins University. While there can be no certainty about future projections, if there is no significant departure from these observed trends during the rest of the year, and if the WFP estimates for increasing numbers of people experiencing crisis level hunger hold, then it is likely that daily deaths from hunger as a result of the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic will be higher than those from the disease before the end of 2020. It is important to note that there is some overlap between these numbers given that some deaths due to COVID-19 could be linked to malnutrition.

  1. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) estimates that 1.5 million people Uganda will likely be in Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3+) between April and July 2020 in the absence of food assistance
  2. In Uganda, where COVID-19 control measures disrupted the planting season and pushed farmers to the brink, debt repayment takes up to 8.98% of the national budget, compared to the 2.91% allocated to agricultural development. Social distancing rules and the closure of community markets have left farmers unable to buy seeds, fertilizes, or slowed planting. Areo Joyce, a smallholder farmer told Oxfam: "Working as a full group is not allowed. 30 people cannot work at the same time in the same garden. This has delayed planting."
  3. In the Malabo Declaration, African governments committed to spend at least 10% of their national budgets to accelerate agricultural growth.
  4. In the current financial year, the government of Kenya spends seventeen times more on debt repayment than on its national budget for agriculture, and two hundred and ten times more than what it spends on its Hunger Safety Net Programme. Cancelling these debt payments would leave Kenya’s government with enough funds to provide a year’s worth of Hunger Safety Net cash transfers to an additional twenty-eight million households.
  5. In Kenya’s national budget for 2020/2021 financial year, the government has allocated 52.8 Billion for Agriculture while 904.704 Billion for debt servicing. From Kenya’s budget policy statement for 2020/21, the government has allocated Ksh. 4.3b for the Kenya Hunger Safety Net Programme and Ksh. 904.704b towards debt repayment.
  6. In Uganda out of a total budget of Ush 4 trillion, the government has allocated Ush 1.324 trillion to agriculture and 4 trillion to interest payments.
  7. With 1.74 million people already food insecure in Burundi, 3.5 million in Kenya, 2.4 million in Rwanda, 1.3 million in Somalia and 1 million in Tanzania, COVID-19 has combined with protracted conflict, growing inequality, and an escalating climate crisis to shake an already broken region food system to its foundations. This could leave millions more on the brink of starvation.