A survey done by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed that about 5.2 million Filipino families have experienced involuntary hunger in the past three months.
About 20.9 percent of the 1,555 respondents said they suffer from “hunger due to lack of food to eat” as the country faced the coronavirus pandemic.
The result of the latest survey is 4.2 percent higher than the hunger rate in May at 16.7 percent, and the highest recorded since September 2014 with 22 percent of respondents reporting involuntary hunger.
“The 20.9 percent hunger rate in July 2020 is the sum of 15.8 percent or 3.9 million families who experienced Moderate Hunger and 5.1 percent or 1.3 million families who experienced Severe Hunger,” said the survey.
The survey noted that Moderate Hunger refers to those who experienced hunger “only once” or “a few times” in the past three months, while Severe Hunger refers to those who experienced it “often” or “always.”
Both moderate hunger and severe hunger rose from the May 2020 survey’s figures — from 13.9 percent to 15.8 percent in July for moderate hunger, and from 2.8 percent to 5.1 percent for severe hunger.
The survey was conducted from July 3 to 6. The central and southern Philippines have recorded the highest hunger rates at 27.2 percent and 24.2 percent, respectively.
The Catholic Church in the Philippines has initiated “Kindness Stations” in March to encourage parish communities to support the poorest families deprived of food in time of the pandemic.
