Farmers Are Coming Out Saying They Have Been Told to quit Farming, Are Being Forced to Dump Milk, and Kill Chickens, and Turn Vegetable Crops Under Peter Sands, the executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that the next global health crisis is food shortages. Rising food and energy prices could kill millions both directly and indirectly, Sands said.
“Food shortages work in two ways. One is you have the tragedy of people actually starving to death. But second is you have the fact that often much larger numbers of people are poorly nourished, and that makes them more vulnerable to existing diseases,” he said according to a report by U.S. News.
Sands said an investment was needed to strengthen health systems to help prepare for the repercussions of food shortages, which is part of the Global Fund’s remit. The Geneva, Switzerland-based fund is aiming to raise $18 billion to boost health systems, fight the three core diseases in its title, and reverse setbacks caused by the pandemic. It has raised just over a third of its target for 2024-2026.