Giving Compass' Take:

• Due to climate issues, political conflicts and access to humanitarian aid, food insecurity is at an all time high in some countries.

• How can humanitarian aid become a priority for those who are not directly affected? 

•  Recommendations were put forth earlier in the year to address food insecurity in Tanzania.

Protracted conflicts and climate shocks have led to a record breaking 124 million people, across 51 countries, now facing food insecurity or worse conditions, according to the Food Security Information Network’s annual report on food crises.

These latest figures reveal a deterioration of food insecurity conditions documented in the 2017 Global Report on Food Crises, which identified 108 million people living in food security crises in 48 countries. And they mark a 55 percent increase from the 80 million at risk people identified by the same analysis in 2016.

The biggest food insecurity situation last year was in Yemen, a country largely dependent on food imports. About a third of the food crises in 2017 were centered in northeast Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, and South Sudan.

Yemen is again expected to be the largest food crisis this year. About 17 million people — more than half the country’s population — are now food-insecure. Restricted access for aid organizations, economic volatility, and outbreak of disease are all expected to further worsen the situation.

Drought, conflict, and economic downturns are also expected to push South Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Somalia into a “category four” emergency situation, as per the FSIN’s five-phase categories.

Read the full article about food insecurity by Amy Lieberman at Devex.