Publication Date September 16, 2017 | VOA

World Hunger Swells as Conflict, Climate Change Grow

Somalia
A Rohingya Muslim woman Zahida Banoo holds her son Mohammad Noor, left, and daughter Shah Heer as she poses for a photograph on the way to her shelter in Kutupalong refugee camp, Bangladesh, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017. Those packed into camps and makeshift settlements in Bangladesh are becoming desperate for scant basic resources as hunger and illness soared. Photo: AP
A Rohingya Muslim woman Zahida Banoo holds her son Mohammad Noor, left, and daughter Shah Heer as she poses for a photograph on the way to her shelter in Kutupalong refugee camp, Bangladesh, Friday, Sept. 15, 2017. Those packed into camps and makeshift settlements in Bangladesh are becoming desperate for scant basic resources as hunger and illness soared. Photo: AP

The United Nations reports world hunger is rising because conflicts and problems related to climate change are multiplying. The report finds about 815 million people globally did not have enough to eat in 2016 — 38 million more than the previous year.

The statistics in this report are particularly grim. They show that global hunger is on the rise again after more than a decade of steady decline. The report, a joint product by five leading U.N. agencies warns that malnutrition is threatening the health of and compromising the future of millions of people world-wide.