WFP: "The situation will get worse"

This year, it is an organization that receives the Peace Prize.

A UN body, the World Food Program, is awarded the prize the same year as the UN turns 75.

In its motivation, the Norwegian Nobel Committee states, among other things, that the organization has shown an impressive ability during the pandemic to intensify its work.

Around the world, hunger is increasing, partly due to conflicts and wars but also because the pandemic and climate change are hitting already weak groups, according to WFP.

In 2019, WFP helped nearly 100 million people in 88 different countries.

- This year we have had to change our measurements and estimate that 138 million people will need our help.

It is a consequence of the corona pandemic and it is the highest figure we have ever had, says Anne Poulsen.

"Hopelessness in humans"

Anne Poulsen has worked in the field around the world and seen the famine with her own eyes.

She describes how she is above all captured by how people cannot reach their full potential due to famine.

She gives examples of when she has visited refugee camps.

Another example was when she worked in Haiti where she describes her encounter with a mother who had lost two of her children due to starvation.

- The mother came there with her five-year-old daughter who had become blind as a result of malnutrition.

There and then I realized how this little girl will not be able to reach her full potential, no matter how much she wants, precisely because of malnutrition, says Anne Poulsen.

"Worst crisis"

The WFP has received a peace prize for efforts to combat famine.

By 2030, WFP has as part of the UN's global goal of eradicating poverty and hunger.

But it is not an optimistic picture that Anne Poulsen gives about the future.

- We are facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II and since the UN was started.

It is not just about one country, it is about several countries.

And more challenges await in the future, says Anne Poulsen, who says that more people in the world will suffer from famine.

- We have never seen so many protracted conflicts before and we see economic collapses in countries and now a pandemic that has become a humanitarian pandemic.