Written By: Angeliki Vytogianni and Lise Thorsen
The UN World Food Program reports that 828 million people are in a state of hunger. 345 million are facing acute food insecurity, having thus more than doubled relatively to 135 million in 2019. 49 million people in 49 different countries are on the edge of famine.
The Global Hunger Index reports negative progress in Sustainable Development Goal 2 for 2022. The overlapping crises that the world is currently facing have not only exposed and accentuated the existing vulnerabilities but also created new issues of insecurity in the global food system. Human-induced climate change, violent conflicts, and the impact of the global pandemic are the three most important factors driving higher poverty numbers, food prices, limiting access to clean water and food, and increasing world hunger.
In low-income countries, the effect of starvation amongst children increases their risk of suffering from obesity in later years, as metabolic functions are distorted in their early years of formation. As a result, experts speak about the notion of a “double epidemic” of malnutrition and obesity, which is reported to “often coexist in the same community and even in the same household."
The ongoing war in Ukraine has negatively affected food security and the food supply chain, particularly in countries of the MENA region that are highly dependent on Ukrainian agricultural exports. The rise in food prices is exacerbating mass hunger and malnutrition, harshly affecting the most vulnerable. The energy crisis has also created a vicious cycle, where the profit margins of farms are being constricted to retrench on fertilizer. In turn, yields are falling which then again impacts the production of primary commodities. According to the GHI index, West Asia and North Africa face moderate hunger, yet there is a worrying trend when it comes to malnutrition numbers in most countries of the region. We notice the greatest increase in hunger, in Jordan, Lebanon, Oman and Yemen since 2014, but Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt are also struggling with food supply.
South Asia, with a hunger index of 27.4 according to the GHI, has the world’s highest hunger level, and the highest numbers of child stunting and child wasting, caused by malnutrition. India, for example, is the most impoverished country with a child wasting rate of 19.3% in the region, driving up the numbers due to its large population. Child wasting refers to the phenomenon of a child being too thin for his or her heights as the result of rapid weight loss or the failure to gain weight.
Sub-Saharan Africa has a GHI index of 27, with the highest rates of child malnutrition and child mortality. Conflict has been the central cause of food scarcity and famine, as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, and Uganda are faced with violence in their territories. The region is also severely affected by climate factors, as it heavily relies on natural resources, fishing, farming and herding to feed its people.
Additionally, there is a surge in natural disasters linked to climate change, disrupting agricultural production. In Madagascar, drought and flooding bring its population on the verge of famine. These so-called “climate-driven famines” are, allegedly, “more likely to be localized” and eventually disperse.
The case of Afghanistan exemplifies food insecurity as a combination of factors, such as exogenous turmoil under Covid, the Taliban, and acute weather conditions. The result is more than half of the population facing severe malnutrition, especially children described as “emaciated”. Families are forced to cope by selling their daughters in exchange for rudimentary means of survival.
Overall, the situation is dire, to say the least. Without humanitarian action on a global scale to combat the most important driving factors of malnutrition at their roots, there is no hope left in seeing the numbers of cases diminish. As many plates of food as we can offer, if we do not dive deeper and resolve the causes of food insecurity, the situation is not bound to improve.
Sources:
“Global, Regional, and National Trends in World Hunger.” Global Hunger Index (GHI) - ORG, www.globalhungerindex.org/trends.html.
“A Global Food Crisis: World Food Programme.” UN World Food Programme,
“HungerMap Live.” UN World Food Programme HungerMap, https://hungermap.wfp.org/
“Malnutrition in Children.” UNICEF DATA, 6 Sept. 2022,
“The World Must Act Now to Stop Afghans Starving.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaperwww.economist.com/leaders/2021/11/13/the-world-must-act-now-to-stop-afghans-starving.
“Obese Children Will Outnumber the Underweight for the First Time.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, https://www.economist.com/the-world-ahead/2021/11/08/obese-children-will-outnumber-the-underweight-for-the-first-time
“Progress to Eradicate Global Hunger Is Stalling.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/03/09/progress-to-eradicate-global-hunger-is-stalling.
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