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The World Food Program says for the first time in history, the number
of hungry people worldwide will exceed one billion this year.
The
huge amount of people facing food insecurity has prompted the U.N.
organization to appeal to individuals for the first time.
WFP
launched the Billion for a Billion online campaign Saturday to get one
billion people living in the developed world to give $1 a week
to the campaign at www.wfp.org/1billion.
WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said the small weekly support could transform lives.
She
said donor governments have supported WFP efforts in the past, but they
cannot be expected to do so anymore because of the financial pressure
they are facing in the worldwide economic downturn.
Sheeran
made the online campaign announcement ahead of the World Food Summit
beginning Monday in Rome, where world leaders are meeting to find
solutions to the growing number of hungry people in the world.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
