World hunger levels rose again last year after soaring in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Ukrainian war along with climate change now threatens hunger and migration massive on an “unprecedented scale” this year, according to UN agencies.
As many as 828 million people, or nearly 10 percent of the world’s population, were affected by famine last year, 46 million more than in 2020 and 150 million more than in 2019, agencies such as the Organization for Agriculture and Food, the World Food Program and the World. The Health Organization said Wednesday in the 2022 edition of the United Nations Food and Nutrition Security Report.
Global hunger levels had remained relatively unchanged between 2015 and 2019.
“There is a real danger that these figures will rise further in the coming months,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley, adding that the peaks in food, fuel and fertilizer prices from the war between Russia and Ukraine threaten to push countries into famine.
“The result will be global destabilization, famine and mass migration on an unprecedented scale. We must act today to prevent this impending catastrophe,” he added.
Russia and Ukraine are the third and fourth largest grain exporters in the world, respectively, while Russia is also a key exporter of fuels and fertilizers.
The war has disrupted its exports, pushed world food prices to record levels and sparked protests in developing countries already struggling with high food prices due to supply chain interruptions related to VOCID- 19.
Al Jazeera’s diplomatic correspondent James Bays, a United Nations informant in New York, said the report’s findings lead to a “very, very sad situation” worldwide.
The Covid-19 pandemic, armed conflicts around the world and climate change have combined to create an unprecedented situation for the most vulnerable, Bays said.
“Partly it’s about funding and it’s clear that the UN doesn’t have the money to solve this problem,” he said.
“In fact, the World Food Program has had to cut back on some of the supplies it sends to people, and the supply of food it gives to people, in some of the countries where people are most in need. You have to look, I think, at the richest countries in the world. “
The gender gap and food insecurity
The UN report warned of the “potentially worrying” implications for food security and nutrition as conflicts, climate extremes, economic shocks and inequalities continue to intensify.
It was estimated that by 2020 worldwide, 22% of children under the age of five were stunted, while 6.7% or 45 million were wasted, a deadly form of malnutrition that increases the risk of death until to 12 times.
The gender gap in food insecurity, which grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, widened even further from 2020 to 2021, according to the report.
Driven largely by increasing differences in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in Asia, he said that “by 2021, 31.9% of women in the world had moderate or severe food insecurity compared to with 27.6% of men “.
Calling for a review of agricultural policies, the report said the global food and agriculture sector received nearly $ 630 billion a year in support that often distorted market prices, did not reach small-scale farmers, hurt the environment and does not promote the production of nutritious food. .
These grants include subsidies that target mainly high-calorie staple foods such as cereals, sugar, meat and dairy at the expense of healthier and more nutritious foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes and seeds.
“Every year 11 million people die due to unhealthy diets. Rising food prices mean that this will only get worse,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“WHO supports countries’ efforts to improve food systems by taxing unhealthy foods, subsidizing healthy choices, protecting children from malicious marketing, and ensuring clear nutrition labels, ”he added.
The agency’s five leaders said evidence shows that if governments redirect their resources to prioritize food consumers and provide incentives to produce and supply nutritious foods, “they will help make healthy diets less expensive and more affordable for everyone “.
The report said a key recommendation “is for governments to start rethinking how they can reallocate their existing public budgets to make them more cost-effective and efficient to reduce the cost of nutritious food and increase the availability and affordability of healthy diets.”