Catholic organisations around the world have raised concerns about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on world hunger.
The lockdown measures in many countries have undermined the agricultural work and logistics required to maintain food supply, especially in economically or politically unstable regions of the world.
In South Sudan, hunger threatened many communities prior to the coronavirus outbreak, with political instability and desert locust swarms endangering food supplies across East Africa. John O’Brien, the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) country representative in South Sudan stated on April 24 that the organisation was stepping up its outreach, especially to vulnerable or isolated communities.
“We’ve adjusted our distribution activities to safeguard staff and participants” O’Brien stated, emphasising that relief efforts aimed both to protect the population from the virus and ensure that vulnerable groups continue to have access to supplies. CRS have also highlighted the adverse impact of the pandemic on food security in other developing nations, such as Guatemala and the Philippines.
A Venezuelan Archbishop warned in an interview with local media that hunger in Venezuela “is becoming a fuel more dangerous than gasoline.” Archbishop Ulises Gutiérrez of Ciudad Bolívar, added that extreme hunger could lead to more political instability in the South American nation, after looting and protests broke out in seven states in Venezuela over food and fuel prices.
Although Venezuela’s coronavirus outbreak has been limited in scale so far, with around 300 confirmed infections and less that 20 deaths, the disruption caused by the global pandemic has pushed an already struggling economy to breaking point. Archbishop Gutierrez warned that Venezuela was beginning to experience a “totally destroyed economy”.
In Argentina, a group of “slum priests” have met with the President to raise concerns about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on hunger on the urban poor. The President of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, imposed country-wide quarantine restrictions shortly after the first confirmed case in the South American nation.
Although the measures seem to have been effective in limiting the spread of the virus, the unstable living conditions of residents in the "barrios", slum regions of Argentina’s great cities, have caused priests serving there to raise the alarm about the present and future impact of the virus.
With the number of Argentines relying on government food assistance rising from eight to 11 million due to the pandemic, the “Slum Priests”, have warned many face a choice between hunger and infection, as informal employment collapses due to lockdown. Nearly one in four, 36 per cent, of Argentina’s population subsists below the poverty line, and demand for soup kitchens and other charitable work has surged in recent weeks.
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