In the midst of the worst recorded Ebola outbreak, three East African countries are in danger of experiencing widespread hunger, warns two United Nations agencies.
According to a report by Thomson Reuters, over one million of the 20 million combined population of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone could suffer hunger by March if food supplies do not improve anytime soon.
The Ebola outbreak has caused workers to keep away from food and livestock, fearing that they might spread the illness. In the report, the fear has resulted in labor shortages in farms for planting and weeding.
Territorial borders for the three countries have also been closed to keep the disease from spreading to other East African countries. As a result, trade routes and supply chains have been disrupted, which means the involved countries are not capable of trading for imports from neighboring countries.
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) representative Bukar Tijani said in a statement that the Ebola outbreak has revealed the vulnerability of different food production systems and supply chains across the three affected countries.
In the report, around 470,000 people would face severe hunger problems in Guinea by March, while there are 300,000 Liberians who would face starvation by that time.
The FAO said that more food imports should be sent to the affected countries, though that would still pose a problem as the countries' respective economies are not capable of exporting their products due to the outbreak and fear among the citizens.