According to report reaching the news desk of CEOAFRICA from Egypt, the ongoing protest in the country has resulted in serious increase of hunger and poverty levels

Close to 13.7 million people are suffering from serious hunger, an increase when compared to the condition of hunger before 2009. This finding was released by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Egypt’s government and the International Food Policy research Institute (IFPRI). This has also increased the level of infant malnutrition, and if proper measure is not adopted, the future of these children is in great danger.

According to the WFP Egypt Country Director, GianPietro Bordignon, the increase in food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty rates does not just happened overnight. “People’s inability to have adequate and nutritious food is largely attributed to rising poverty rates and a succession of crises from 2005- including the avian influenza epidemic in 2006, the food, fuel and financial crises of 2007-2009 and a challenging macroeconomic context in recent years.” He said.

Also, the IFPRI Research Fellow Clemens Breisinger says, “Egypt will experience a triple win: fiscal savings, reaching the most vulnerable, and improved nutrition if the current subsidy system is restructured. The current system is not targeted to those who need it the most.”