A program that helps combat hunger around the world is this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. The World Food Program works in areas facing conflict and hardship. The award is a recognition for the work it does to help hundreds of millions of people around the world.
It comes at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has driven millions more people to the brink of starvation. The Rome-based United Nations agency has long specialized in getting assistance to some of the world’s most dangerous places.
It is the ninth award for the U.N. or one of its agencies.
In 2019, the organization helped around 100 million hungry and starving people. This year, that number has already expanded to around 135 million, largely because of the pandemic and the organization is warning it could expand further.
“This award is a call to action because where there’s conflict, there’s starvation. Where there is starvation there’s conflict, destabilization and migration and we literally have, because of all those things, coupled with COVID, we’ve got destabilization and possibilities of famines of biblical proportions. We need billions of extra dollars to save people around the world, so this is a call to action. The wake up to people around the world that people are starving or dying. They need help and they need it right now,” said David Beasley the Executive Director of the World Food Program.
The Nobel Committee said through this choice it wants to turn the eyes of the world onto the hungry.
For more on the announcement, click here.
