Record of 155 million people in the world suffering from hunger, Covid "supplants" climatic events
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July 12, 2021 The Covid pandemic has caused an estimated 18% increase in the number of hungry people in the world, the largest in decades, causing a massive setback in efforts to ensure access to food for all.
This was denounced by a United Nations report published today, which points out how this deterioration compromises more than ever the goal of eradicating hunger by 2030.
The "economic downturns as a result of the containment measures of Covid-19 around the world have contributed to one of the largest increases in hunger in the world in decades, "says the annual report on food security and nutrition compiled by various United Nations agencies.
While it is not yet possible to determine the full impact of the pandemic, the report estimates that around 118 million more people faced hunger in 2020 than in 2019, an increase of 18%.
The increase in moderate or severe food insecurity was equal to the previous five years combined. "Nearly one in three people in the world (2.37 billion) did not have access to adequate nutrition in 2020, an increase of nearly 320 million people in a single year," the report said. One in 10 people was undernourished.
The report was published jointly by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Emergency Fund for Children (Unicef), the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and the World Food Health Organization (WHO).
The agencies said there is a unique opportunity to reverse the dynamic this year, thanks to two major food and nutrition summits, along with the COP26 meeting on climate change.