The World Health Organization views hunger as the number one threat to public health; it is responsible for a third of child deaths and 10% of all disease. Yet as the pressure to develop biofuel technologies mount, food crops are being diverted to the new industry and farmland is increasingly being used to grow biofuel crops. This has led to soaring food prices, and millions of people worldwide are now facing hunger and starvation. According to the World Food Programme, an extra 100 million people who previously did not require help can no longer afford to buy food. One expert has compared the food crisis to a "silent tsunami that respects no borders."