On July 15, 2019, The report named State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019 produced by the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) was released. It stated that in the year 2018, more than 820 million people suffered hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition worldwide. It is for the third year in a row the number has risen.
Key Points:
At present, globally 1 in every 9 people suffer from hunger.
- Malnutrition: It is widespread in Africa where 20% of the population is affected. In Asia, more than 12% of people experienced it and in Latin America & the Caribbean, 7% of people were affected.
- Famine: The number of people suffering from famine with food insecurity was more than two billion.
- Hunger-related growth delays: Around 149 million children suffered from hunger-related growth delays.
- Obesity and excess weight: They both were on the rise in all regions with school-age children and adults particularly affected. There are 338 million school-age children and adolescents who are overweight and 672 million obese adults.
- Stunting: Asia and Africa have 9 out of 10 of stunted children and more than 9 out of 10 of all wasted children worldwide.
- Low birth weight: 1 in 7 babies around the world were born with low birth weight in 2015 where many of them were born to adolescent mothers.
- Food insecurity: 17.2% of the world’s population or 1.3 billion people lacked regular access to “nutritious and sufficient food”.
- SDG: The report stated that these facts underscored “the immense challenge” to achieve the Zero Hunger (SDG 2) target of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
About FAO:
♦ Headquarters: Rome, Italy
♦ Founded: 16 October 1945
About IFAD:
♦ Headquarters: Rome, Italy
♦ Founded: December 1977
About UNICEF:
♦ It was originally known as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.
♦ Headquarters: New York, US
♦ Founded: 11 December 1946
About WFP:
♦ Headquarters: Rome, Italy
♦ Founded: 1961
About WHO:
♦ Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
♦ Founded: 7 April 1948