“Gloomy” is how the Global Hunger Index 2022 classifies the situation of hunger in the world, aggravated by the latest crises and those that are ongoing: the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and climate change.
“As the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GFI) shows, the global hunger situation is bleak. The overlapping crises facing the world are revealing the failings of food systems, from global to local, and highlighting the vulnerability of populations. around the world in relation to hunger”, reads its latest report, released this Thursday.
In the document, the IGF denounces that “the percentage of people without regular access to sufficient calories is increasing”, compared to “some 828 million undernourished people in 2021, which represents a setback of more than a decade of progress in the fight against hunger”. “, due to “a wave of crisis”.
The study predicts that “the situation is likely to worsen in the face of the current wave of overlapping global crises (conflict, climate change, and the economic fallout from the covid-19 pandemic), all of which are powerful drivers of hunger.”
“The war in Ukraine has further increased world prices for food, fuel and fertilizer and has the potential to further exacerbate hunger in 2023 and beyond”, argue the experts responsible for preparing the index, considering that “these crises they add to underlying factors such as poverty, inequality, inadequate governance, poor infrastructure and low agricultural productivity, which contribute to chronic hunger and vulnerability.”
Globally and in many countries and regions, current food systems are inadequate to meet these challenges and end hunger.
According to experts, “without significant changes”, there is the potential for a worsening of the situation as early as 2023, and the world as a whole is not expected to reach a low level of hunger by 2030, as foreseen in the defined goals. in the so-called 2030 Agenda. (Designed by the UN and made up of 17 major sustainable development goals).
The IGF presents a hunger severity scale that includes “low, moderate, severe, alarming, and extremely alarming” levels.
According to the study, “high hunger persists in too many regions,” undernourished population levels are on the rise, and improvements are not expected until 2030.
South Asia is the region with the highest values and sub-Saharan Africa the region with the second most severe levels of hunger, with malnutrition and infant mortality rates “higher than any other region in the world,” in terms of the report. who considers that even in regions such as East Africa, West Asia and North Africa “the figures are worrying”.
South Asia is also the region with the highest rate of childhood stunting (rickets) and “by far the highest rate of childhood wasting of any other region in the world”.
Child wasting means the percentage of children under five years of age who are underweight for their height, which is a reflection of acute malnutrition, explains the IGF in the report, pointing to it as one of the four indicators on which it is based as an instrument. . “comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and national levels over recent years and decades.”
The other three indicators he uses in his formula to capture “the multidimensional nature of hunger” are malnutrition, child stunting (reflecting chronic malnutrition), and the infant mortality rate for children under five.
Experts point out that five countries in the world are at an alarming level, four of them African and Yemen, a country in civil war since 2014 that, according to the UN, caused “the worst humanitarian crisis in the world” and that, in October 2020 , the annual edition of the IGF has already included among the countries with alarming levels of hunger.
In addition, the IGF places four countries at a provisionally alarming level – three more African countries and Syria, also the scene of a civil war since 2011 – and 35 countries at a severe level of hunger (the majority also African, in addition to Timor-Leste ), East, Haiti, India and Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, North Korea and Afghanistan, where the Taliban regained power just over a year ago and are facing a serious economic crisis).
Possible solutions identified in the report include the transformation of food systems, as well as the important role that local governments play in these regions.
“In a global food system that has not reached a sustainable end to hunger, it is important to look at the governance of food systems at the local level, where citizens are finding innovative ways to hold decision-makers accountable for solving the problem. and nutritional insecurity,” says one of the experts, Danielle Resnick, in an essay included in this year’s IGF report.
“While transforming food systems ultimately requires interventions at multiple levels, a greater focus on local governance of food systems is warranted,” because “natural resource management practices, farming and ranching methods, and food preferences are often based on local cultural traditions, historical experiences, and agroecological conditions,” Resnick argues.
For the 2022 Global Hunger Index report, data from 136 countries were evaluated. Among these, there was enough data to calculate the 2022 IGF score and rank 121 countries (for comparison, 116 countries were ranked in the 2021 report), the document also says.
Source: TSF
