By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, Aug 10 (IVC) About 733 million people suffered from hunger last year, that is one person in 11,152 million more than in the pre-pandemic period (2019), according to a report on “ The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the world(SOFI) released by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and four other agencies.
This is the third consecutive year that the number is not decreasing , remaining “stubbornly unchanged”, the report revealed.
The document , presented in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where the rotating presidency of the G20 this year underscored the fact that the fight against hunger has suffered 15-year setback.
Undernourishment levels are comparable to those of 2008-09 and the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger appears unachievable by 2030, despite some improvements in specific areas, like breastfeeding or stunted children. Instead, if current trends continue, 582 million will be chronically undernourished by the end of the decade, 130 million more than in the pre-COVID-19 period. At the regional level , there are wide variations.
In Asia , the percentage of people afflicted by food insecurity and malnutrition has stabilized at 8.1 per cent. But the hunger is still a huge problem for the region, home to more than half of the world’s hunger population, or 385 million people, the report revealed.
South Asia has the highest percentage, with 13.9 per cent undernourished (almost 281 million) while in East Asia the figure is less than 2.5 per cent and it is just over 6 per cent in Southeast Asia. Food insecurity (defined as the situation in which an individual is without food for one or more consecutive days) also continues at record levels in South Asia, but the worst data come from Africa, where 58 per cent of the population is in this condition. In South Asia 2023 saw a drop to 41.1 per cent (compared to 24.8 per cent in the region) equal to 833.4 million people.
Only Central Asia has seen improvements over 2021, with 2.4 million fewer people suffering from severe or moderate food insecurity, even though 16.6 per cent of the populationis still affected, the report added.
Compared to the past, hunger today affects men and women almost equally, the United Nations pointed out , thanks mainly to improvements in the conditions of women around the world. Asia on the other hand , has the highest number in absolute terms, with over 1.65 billion people who cannot afford to healthy diet.
