The United Nations' World Food Program is appealing for more than $5 billion for what it is calling a "human rescue package."
WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran issued the appeal Tuesday from New Delhi, India - the nation with the world's largest population of undernourished people.
She says that without a rapid injection of funds, tens of millions of people in Africa, Haiti and other "hunger hot spots" will be without food aid by March.
Eight of the WFP's 12 priority nations for hunger assistance are in Africa - including Ethiopia, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
Sheeran says a mere one percent of all the money set aside by the U.S. government for financial bailout and economic stimulus packages could fully fund the work of the WFP.
The full list of nations on the WFP's priority list is: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
