Agro Perspectiva

UN Food Security Report: World hunger is still not going down after three years and obesity is still growing

16.07.2019 16:18 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) — As of this week, the UN agencies (FAO, IFAD , UNICEF, WFP, WHO) have jointly issued a new edition of the annual report the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, FAO says. As to the report, as of 2018, 820 million people worldwide did not have access to a sufficient amount of foods (up against 811 million as of 2017) — what means the hunger has been boosting within the third consecutive year. This demonstrates the huge obstacles that stand in the way of achieving the goal of sustainable development to eradicate hunger by 2030. As to the report, the pace of progress in halving the number of children who are stunted and in reducing the number of babies born with low birth weight is too slow (what also puts the SDG 2 nutrition targets further out of reach). At the same time, adding to these challenges, overweight and obesity continue to increase in all regions, particularly among school-age children and adults. The chances of being food insecure are higher for women than men in every continent, with the largest gap within Latin America. As to the report, hunger is growing within many countries where economic growth is lagging, particularly within middle-income countries and those that rely heavily on international primary commodity trade. The annual UN report also found that income inequality is rising within many of the countries where hunger is on the rise, making it even more difficult for the poor, vulnerable or marginalized to cope with economic slowdowns and downturns. As to the report, the situation is most alarming within Africa, as the region has the highest rates of hunger in the world and which are continuing to slowly but steadily rise in almost all subregions. In Eastern Africa in particular, close to a third of the population (30.8 percent) is undernourished. In addition to climate and conflict, economic slowdowns and downturns are driving the rise. Since 2011, almost half the countries where rising hunger occurred due to economic slowdowns or stagnation were within Africa. As to the report, as of 2018, the number of hungry people worldwide totals 821.6 million, or 1 of 9 people (incl. within Asia: 513.9 million, Africa — 256.1 million, Latin America and the Caribbean — 42.5 million). Reportedly, as of 2018, the number of moderately or severely food insecure people worldwide totals 2 milliard (26.4%); babies born with low birth weight — 20.5 million (one in seven); children under 5 affected by stunting (low height-for-age) — 148.9 million (21.9%); children under 5 affected by wasting (low weight-for-height) — 49.5 million (7.3%); children under 5 who are overweight (high weight-for-height) — 40 million (5.9%); school-age children and adolescents who are overweight — 338 million; adults who are obese — 672 million (13% or 1 of 8 adults). It is to be admitted, the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World is a part of tracking progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 2 Zero Hunger, which aims to end hunger, promote food security and end all forms of malnutrition by 2030.