Rome (UNA-OIC) – There was a dramatic worsening of world hunger in 2020, much of it likely related to the fallout of COVID-19, the United Nations said on Monday.
While the pandemic’s impact has yet to be fully mapped, a multi-agency report estimates that around a tenth of the global population (up to 811 million people) was undernourished last year. The number suggests it will take a tremendous effort for the world to honor its pledge to end hunger by 2030.
The 2021 report of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World – jointly prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Program (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) – Is the first global assessment of its kind in the pandemic era.
“Unfortunately, the pandemic continues to expose weaknesses in our food systems, which threaten the lives and livelihoods of people around the world,” the heads of the five UN agencies write in this year’s Foreword.
“This year offers a unique opportunity for advancing food security and nutrition through transforming food systems with the upcoming UN Food Systems Summit, the Nutrition for Growth Summit and the COP26 on climate change,” they said, adding that the outcome of these events will go on to shape the second half of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition – a global policy commitment yet to hit its stride.
Hunger, which has already started creeping upwards since the mid-2010s, shot up disturbingly in both absolute and proportional terms in 2020, outpacing population growth: some 9.9 percent of all people are estimated to have been undernourished last year, up from 8.4 percent in 2019.
More than half of all undernourished people (418 million) live in Asia; more than a third (282 million) in Africa; and a smaller proportion (60 million) in Latin America and the Caribbean. But the sharpest rise in hunger was in Africa, where the estimated prevalence of undernourishment – at 21 percent of the population – Is more than double that of any other region.
Overall, in 2020, more than 2.3 billion people (30 percent of the global population) lacked year-round access to adequate food: this indicator – known as the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity – leapt in one year as much in as the preceding five combined.
On current trends, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World estimates that Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger by 2030) will be missed by a margin of nearly 660 million people. Of these 660 million, some 30 million may be linked to the pandemic’s lasting effects.
The report calls for an “enabling environment of governance mechanisms and institutions” to make transformation possible. It enjoins policymakers to consult widely; to empower women and youth; and to expand the availability of data and new technologies. Above all, the authors urge, the world must act now – or watch the drivers of hunger and malnutrition recur with growing intensity in coming years, long after the shock of the pandemic has passed.
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1415595/icode/
While the pandemic’s impact has yet to be fully mapped, a multi-agency report estimates that around a tenth of the global population (up to 811 million people) was undernourished last year. The number suggests it will take a tremendous effort for the world to honor its pledge to end hunger by 2030.
The 2021 report of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World – jointly prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Program (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) – Is the first global assessment of its kind in the pandemic era.
“Unfortunately, the pandemic continues to expose weaknesses in our food systems, which threaten the lives and livelihoods of people around the world,” the heads of the five UN agencies write in this year’s Foreword.
“This year offers a unique opportunity for advancing food security and nutrition through transforming food systems with the upcoming UN Food Systems Summit, the Nutrition for Growth Summit and the COP26 on climate change,” they said, adding that the outcome of these events will go on to shape the second half of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition – a global policy commitment yet to hit its stride.
Hunger, which has already started creeping upwards since the mid-2010s, shot up disturbingly in both absolute and proportional terms in 2020, outpacing population growth: some 9.9 percent of all people are estimated to have been undernourished last year, up from 8.4 percent in 2019.
More than half of all undernourished people (418 million) live in Asia; more than a third (282 million) in Africa; and a smaller proportion (60 million) in Latin America and the Caribbean. But the sharpest rise in hunger was in Africa, where the estimated prevalence of undernourishment – at 21 percent of the population – Is more than double that of any other region.
Overall, in 2020, more than 2.3 billion people (30 percent of the global population) lacked year-round access to adequate food: this indicator – known as the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity – leapt in one year as much in as the preceding five combined.
On current trends, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World estimates that Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger by 2030) will be missed by a margin of nearly 660 million people. Of these 660 million, some 30 million may be linked to the pandemic’s lasting effects.
The report calls for an “enabling environment of governance mechanisms and institutions” to make transformation possible. It enjoins policymakers to consult widely; to empower women and youth; and to expand the availability of data and new technologies. Above all, the authors urge, the world must act now – or watch the drivers of hunger and malnutrition recur with growing intensity in coming years, long after the shock of the pandemic has passed.
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1415595/icode/
