WILLS POINT, Texas (WordNews.org) May 26, 2020 — A new report released today, World Hunger Day, says an estimated 9 million people will die as a result of starvation worsened by the coronavirus.

The Gospel for Asia report, titled “The Scandal of Starvation in a World of Plenty,” says families, restaurants and hospitals globally will throw away $1 trillion worth of food in 2020, enough to feed one in every four people on the planet.

According to The Scandal of Starvation in a World of Plenty. hunger increased around the world for the third straight year, with more than 820 million people not getting enough to eat. The worst hit region is South Asia, home to two-thirds of the world’s malnourished children.

In many developing nations coronavirus lockdowns have sent unemployment skyrocketing among the poorest of the poor  without safety nets such as jobless benefits or stimulus checks to head-off hunger.

“The coronavirus itself is a deadly, terrible event, but more people are dying — and will die — of starvation,” said Dr. K.P. Yohannan, founder of Texas-based Gospel for Asia (GFA World, www.gfa.org). Gospel for Asia is working to feed tens of thousands across South Asia during the crisis.

While millions live every day with the reality of hunger, affluent nations like the U.S. waste massive amounts of food, even though almost 40 million Americans — including 11 million children — were labeled “food insecure” in 2018.

“The extent of ‘hidden hunger’ is alarming, even in wealthy countries,” Yohannan said. “Yet while the world produces a harvest big enough to feed everyone on the planet one-and-a-half times over, a third of all the food produced goes to waste. It’s horribly shocking.”

GFA said there is a growing backlash against what it called “reckless food waste.”

Launched in Delhi, India in 2014, the Robin Hood Army — a movement of volunteers who collect and distribute leftover food from restaurants and other businesses — has served more than 26 million meals in 150-plus cities in a dozen countries, all from “surplus” food that would have been discarded.

Meanwhile, amid COVID-19 lockdowns, local GFA churches and community teams are distributing staples such as rice. Thousands of congregations are involved, bringing food and water to migrant workers facing starvation.

More than 90 percent of India’s laborers have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus. As desperation mounts, Outlook India reported that one mother threw her five children into the Ganges River to “end their suffering.”

A GFA field worker said social distancing was impossible as desperate crowds descend on relief teams bringing food. “In the face of hunger, social distancing will always come second,” he said.

At one location, more than 600 migrant workers swarmed a relief vehicle. “God forbid but, if I die, please take care of my wife and two girls,” said local bishop Martin Mor Aprem Episcopa, who leads a GFA team that delivers food every day. “We know the risk we’re taking, but we must go out and keep doing what we’re doing… this is sometimes the only food they’ll get in three days.”

One grateful villager — who had been scavenging in the fields to survive — said: “We were worried and anxious, thinking about how long we would have to suffer.”

“The Prime Minister of India and government officials everywhere are doing their best to care for the poor and needy and helping our church workers to serve their neighbors,” said Yohannan. “It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the scale of the problem. But one person can make a difference. As Mother Teresa said, ‘If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.’”

“It’s as simple as the words of Jesus: ‘I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat.’”