The World Food Programme (WFP) has won this year’s Nobel Prize for its efforts to fight world hunger.
The Nobel Prize Committee said that WFP won the accolade for “its contribution to bettering the conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”
The announcement was made in a virtual ceremony streamed live on its Twitter page on Friday, October 9, 2020.
In a statement released after the ceremony, the Nobel Prize team said that WFP provided assistance to nearly 100 million people in 88 countries who are victims of acute food insecurity and hunger.
Eradicating hunger is the primary goal of the WFP, which is the UN’s primary instrument for realising it following its adoption in 2015 as a Sustainable Development Goal.
“In 2019, 135 million people suffered from acute hunger, the highest number in many years. Most of the increase was caused by war and armed conflict,” said the Nobel Prize Committee.
Some of the people living on the brink of starvation live in Yemen, DR Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Burkina Faso, countries hit hard not only by Covid-19 pandemic but also armed conflict.
“Until the day we have a medical vaccine, the food is the best vaccine against chaos,” said the Norwegian-based team.
