UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for concerted and quick action on Wednesday to combat the current surge in global food insecurity.

During a ministerial meeting on global hunger at the UN headquarters in New York, Guterres said the number of severely food-insecure people has doubled in just two years – from 135 million pre-pandemic to 276 million today, with more than half a million experiencing famine conditions – an increase of more than 500 percent since 2016.

"These frightening figures are inextricably linked with conflict, as both cause and effect," he said. "If we do not feed people, we feed conflict."