The United Nations says that the Ebola crisis in west Africa could end up bringing a widespread famine that leads to more deaths than the virus will end up causing at the end of the outbreak.

The announcement came on the eve of the UN’s World Food Day Thursday.

“The world is mobilizing and we need to reach the smallest villages in the most remote locations,” Denise Brown, the U.N. World Food Program’s regional director for West Africa, said in a statement Wednesday. “Indications are that things will get worse before they improve. How much worse depends on us all.”

The World Food Program says that over 1.3 million people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are lacking enough food.  The organization says they don’t have enough supplies for everyone and currently are able to reach up to 700,000 people a month.

The WFP is providing food to families of Ebola victims.

“We are assessing how families are coping as the virus keeps spreading,” an organization spokesman said. “We expect to have a better understanding of the impact of the Ebola outbreak on food availability and farming activities by the end of October.”