Hunger soared 30% in Latin America in 2020, according to FAO

In Latin America, hunger has become a “pandemic” parallel to that of covid-19, reaching almost 60 million people in the region in 2020, 30% more than the previous year and the highest number of the last 20 years, according to the FAO warned on Tuesday.

More than 59.7 million people suffered from hunger last year, 9.1% of the region’s total population, according to the latest annual report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). which translates to 13.8 million more than in 2019.

This panorama makes Latin America the worst region in the world in terms of food insecurity in 2020 and implies six consecutive years of increased hunger.

“We must say it loud and clear: Latin America and the Caribbean faces a critical situation in terms of its food security. There has been an increase of almost 70% in hunger between 2014 and 2020,” said Julio Berdegué, FAO regional representative .

The battle of malnutrition

Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua are the countries with the highest prevalence of hunger with 46.8%, 27.4% and 19.3% respectively, the FAO warned, followed by Guatemala (16.8%) and Honduras (13.5 %).

The rest of the countries registered a prevalence of less than 10% and less than 2.5% in the case of Brazil, Cuba and Uruguay, the institution added.

The figures are from the report Regional Panorama of Food and Nutrition Security 2021, a joint publication of FAO with other entities such as the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization (PAHO / WHO) or the International Fund for Agricultural Development ( IFAD).

The World Food Program (WFP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also participated.

The pandemic, the last straw

According to the report, this scenario “could be explained in part by the effects of COVID-19,” which leaves 46.5 million total infections and 1.5 million deaths, in addition to a 6.8% contraction of GDP. in 2020 – the largest in 120 years.

With record deaths, extensive quarantines or a shortage of equipment and medical care, Latin America, the most unequal region in the world, was one of the most affected in health and economic terms by the health crisis, which raised poverty to 33.7% .

In 2020, 267 million people suffered from food insecurity, that is, 60 million more people than in 2019 “did not have physical or economic access to food of sufficient quantity or quality for their health and development.”

“The pandemic has aggravated the situation,” acknowledged Rossana Polastri, IFAD’s regional director, however hunger “has been increasing since 2014.”

“We must correct the deep vulnerabilities in our food systems and make them more inclusive and sustainable so that they provide well-being to our societies,” he added.

The report also points out that the phenomenon of food insecurity affected more women (41.8%) than men (32.2%) and that the region “is losing the battle against obesity,” which has experienced “significant increases.” “and affects one in four adults (106 million people in total).

Being overweight, the biggest concern among children

Among minors, overweight has also been increasing for 20 years, and in 2020, 3.9 million children – 7.5% of those under five years of age – suffered from this condition, almost 2 percentage points above the world average.

“With services disrupted by COVID-19 and devastated livelihoods, families have a harder time putting healthy food on the table, leaving many children hungry and others overweight,” said Jean Gough, regional director. of Unicef.

Meanwhile, growth retardation in children showed improvement, with a fall in prevalence from 18% to 11.3% in 20 years, and acute malnutrition in minors was 1.3%, significantly lower than that of children. world average of 6.7%. (I)