Over 820 million people suffering from hunger; new UN report reveals
GENEVA. KAZINFORM An estimated 820 million people did not have enough to eat in 2018, up from 811 million in the previous year, which is the third year of increase in a row.
This underscores theimmense challenge of achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hungerby 2030, says a new edition of the annual The State of Food Security andNutrition in the World report released today, WAM reports.
The pace ofprogress in halving the number of children who are stunted and in reducing thenumber of babies born with low birth weight is too slow, which also puts theSDG 2 nutrition targets further out of reach, according to the report.
At the sametime, adding to these challenges, overweight and obesity continue to increasein all regions, particularly among school-age children and adults.
The chancesof being food insecure are higher for women than men in every continent, withthe largest gap in Latin America.
«Ouractions to tackle these troubling trends will have to be bolder, not only inscale but also in terms of multisectoral collaboration,» the heads of theUnited Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation,FAO, the International Fundfor Agricultural Development,IFAD, the UN Children’s Fund,UNICEF, the WorldFood Programme,WFP, and the World Health Organisation,WHO, urged in their jointforeword to the report.
Hunger isincreasing in many countries where economic growth is lagging, particularly inmiddle-income countries and those that rely heavily on international primarycommodity trade. The annual UN report also found that income inequality isrising in many of the countries where hunger is on the rise, making it evenmore difficult for the poor, vulnerable or marginalised to cope with economicslowdowns and downturns.
«Wemust foster pro-poor and inclusive structural transformation focusing on peopleand placing communities at the centre to reduce economic vulnerabilities andset ourselves on track to ending hunger, food insecurity and all forms ofmalnutrition,» the UN leaders said.
Key factsand figures Number of hungry people in the world in 2018: 821.6 million (or 1in 9 people) in Asia: 513.9 million in Africa: 256.1million in Latin Americaand the Caribbean: 42.5 million Number of moderately or severely food insecure:2 billion (26.4%) Babies born with low birth weight: 20.5 million (one inseven) Children under 5 affected by stunting (low height-for-age): 148.9million (21.9%) Children under 5 affected by wasting (low weight-for-height):49.5 million (7.3%) Children under 5 who are overweight (highweight-for-height): 40 million (5.9%) School-age children and adolescents whoare overweight: 338 million Adults who are obese: 672 million (13% or 1 in 8adults)