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UN: More people are going hungry, malnourished

Source:Ringier Food Release Date:2017-09-19 150
Food & Beverage
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Global hunger worsened in 2016, according to a new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

IN ITS report, “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017”, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said that the number of hungry people grew from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million in 2016.

While it declined for over a decade, the number has risen due to conflict and climate change. Global economic slowdown has also impacted food security and nutrition. In 2015, the number was below 800 million, despite population growth.

In September 2016, world leaders and the international community convened at the United Nations to commit to a bold new Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes the goal of ending hunger by 2030. However, data in the new UN hunger report signals an alarming reversal in momentum.

The report also stated that some 155 million children aged under five are stunted, while 52 million suffer from wasting (their weight is too low for their height). An estimated 41 million children are now overweight. Anaemia among women and adult obesity are also cause for concern. These trends are a consequence not only of conflict and climate change but also of sweeping changes in dietary habits as well as economic slowdowns.

Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia are the most affected, and the prevalence of hunger remains highest in sub-Saharan Africa, where it increased from 20% in 2013 to 22.6% in 2016. In East Africa, one-third of the population is suffering from hunger.

In March 2017, the UN warned that 20 million people were at risk of starvation, with an official famine declaration in parts of South Sudan, and looming famine across Nigeria, Somalia, much of South Sudan, and Yemen, constituting the worst humanitarian crisis the UN had faced since it was founded in 1945—and the first time since 2011 that famine has been officially declared anywhere on the planet.  The international community cannot ignore these indications of a possible reversal in progress to eradicate hunger.

Conflict in all four countries —Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen—compounded by drought in the case of Somalia, has created a hunger crisis of monumental proportions. In many places in these countries, insecurity prevents aid delivery, as is the case in many situations of armed conflict.

Violence prevents the safe, unimpeded delivery of aid to populations in crisis. People are displaced from their homes and forced to abandon their assets, livelihoods, crops, and land, leaving them without a safety net. Action Against Hunger emphasizes that a concerted political effort is urgently required to end these crises and allow for the delivery of food assistance and other help.

Climate change is also driving hunger among the poorest communities and undermining current efforts to combat hunger. The new UN hunger report mentions the impact of the El Niño weather phenomenon, which has caused severe drought in Southern Africa, East Africa, and Southeast Asia, as well as heavy rains and massive floods in India, Kenya, and South America. Extreme weather such as drought kills crops and livestock, destroying livelihoods and sources of food for the most vulnerable small-scale farmers and pastoralist communities. On average, eight out of ten people in the four countries threatened by famine live in rural areas; supporting their livelihoods is their best defense against famine.

Hunger must become an urgent international political priority

Action Against Hunger, the international humanitarian organization warns that urgent action is needed to win the fight against hunger. Reacting to the UN report, it said that global hunger can be understood by recognizing and addressing the links between conflict, climate, and food insecurity. It said there are multiple, major drivers of hunger threatening progress, including: poverty, inequality, conflict and displacement, climate change, inadequate agricultural policies, and poor governance and weak infrastructure. Without a multidimensional approach, hunger will persist.

In order to achieve the ambitious goal of ending hunger by 2030, the international community must exert stronger political will and mobilize more resources.

The number of people suffering from hunger in the world is rising not only because of the upsurge in conflicts, but also—and above all else—because hunger is not a global political priority.

To succeed in ending hunger Action Against Hunger urges:

·        Both States and the international community to exert political pressure to end crises, avert famine, and break the vicious circle between hunger and conflict;

·        Respect, promote and fulfill human rights and women and children rights in particular;

·        Donors and governments from developing countries to increase both their humanitarian and long-term funding to strengthen response capacity to famine crises, and reduce the vulnerability of at risk-groups to famine and undernutrition by supporting small-scale farming in the long term and supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies;

·        Donors and high burden countries should also ensure that (1) a focus on nutrition is retained in humanitarian crises, and that the financial needs associated with ensuring adequate nutrition for women, children, and adolescents in emergencies are adequately addressed in government systems; (2) longer-term sustainable plans and nutrition strategies that will last beyond the emergency phase are defined.

Unless such actions are taken, hard-won collective efforts to end hunger are in danger of unravelling. The figures from the 2017 State of Food Insecurity Report must be a wake-up call to spur the international community to take greater, more effective action against hunger and food insecurity around the globe. - SOURCE Action Against Hunger

   Hunger and food security

   ·        Overall number of hungry people in the world: 815 million, including:
    - In Asia: 520 million
    - In Africa: 243 million
    - In Latin America and the Caribbean: 42 million

   ·        Share of the global population that is hungry: 11%
     - Share of Asia's population that is hungry: 11.7%
     - Of Africa's: 20% (in eastern Africa, 33.9%)
     - In Latin America and the Caribbean: 6.6%

   Malnutrition in all its forms

  ·        Number of children under 5 years of age who suffer from stunted growth (height too low for             their age) : 155 million

    - Number of those living in countries affected by varying levels of conflict: 122 million

  ·        Children under 5 affected by wasting (weight too low given their height): 52 million

 ·        Number of adults who are obese: 641 million (13% of all adults on the planet)

 ·        Children under 5 who are overweight: 41 million

 ·        Number of women of reproductive age affected by anaemia: 613 million (around 33%

          of the total)

   The impact of conflict

    ·        Number of the 815 million hungry people on the planet who live in countries affected by                   conflict: 489 million

   ·        The prevalence of hunger in countries affected by conflict is 1.4 - 4.4 percentage points                    higher than in other countries

   ·        In conflict settings compounded by conditions of institutional and environmental fragility,                 the prevalence is 11 and 18 percentage points higher

  ·        People living in countries affected by protracted crises are nearly 2.5 times more likely to be           undernourished than people elsewhere

  Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

 

Action Against Hunger, the international humanitarian organization warns that urgent action is needed to win the fight against hunger. Reacting to the UN report, it said that global hunger can be understood by recognizing and addressing the links between conflict, climate, and food insecurity.

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