Growing food shortages could represent the same health threat to the world as the COVID-19 pandemic, a leading global health figure has warned.
Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that rising food and energy prices due to the war in Ukraine could directly and indirectly kill millions of people.
“Food scarcity works in two ways. One is that you have the tragedy of people who are actually starving. But the second thing you have is the fact that often a large number of people get poor nutrition, and it makes them more vulnerable to existing diseases,” he said.
He said efforts to improve pandemic preparedness should not make the “classic” mistake of relating only to crises that resemble the world’s most recent threat.
“It is not as well defined as some new pathogen appearing with specific new symptoms. But it can be just as deadly,” he said.
World The health organization estimates that 15 million people may die as a result of COVID-19.
The investment is needed to strengthen health systems to help prepare for the consequences of food shortages, said Sands, part of the Global Fund’s remittances.
The Geneva, Switzerland-based fund aims to raise $18 billion to boost health systems, fight the three major diseases in its title, and reverse shock caused by the pandemic. It has met just over a third of its target for 2024-2026.
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