High food prices have pushed another 105 million people into hunger in the first half of 2009, the head of the U.N. World Food Program said Friday, raising the total number of hungry people to over 1 billion.
Urging rich nations at a meeting of the Group of Eight’s development ministers not cut back on aid, Josette Sheeran told Reuters the world faced a “human catastrophe” as more and more people struggle to eat a decent meal.
“This year we are clocking in on average four million new hungry people a week, urgently hungry,” Sheeran told Reuters.