Coronavirus Has Worsened Global Hunger Crisis: UN Report

A United Nations (UN) report has highlighted that coronavirus pandemic has increased hunger and malnourishment around the world with more people being pushed into poverty and are unable to access a healthy diet.

The report that was published on Monday, July 13, stated that nearly one in nine people in the world are going hungry with the COVID-19 outbreak worsening the trend this year.

Economic slowdowns and climate-related factors are contributing to the hunger crisis with nutritious food being expensive and hence, becoming inaccessible. The report has pointed out that it is giving rise not only to undernourishment but to growing rates of obesity in adults and children.

The report was co-authored by five United Nations agencies including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

"After decades of long decline, the number of people suffering from hunger has been slowly increasing since 2014," said the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World annual report.

The international organisation's report also found out that nearly 690 million people or 8.9 per cent of people around the globe are hungry,

Casting doubt over achieving the goal of eradicating hunger by 2030, it said that the number rose by 10 million people in just one year to 2019 and by 60 million in the past five years.

It has estimated that over 890 million people could be affected by hunger or 9.8 per cent of the world's population by 2030.

" When measuring both moderate and severe food insecurity in 2019, the number balloons from 690 million to 2 billion people without "regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food," read the report.

Coronavirus pandemic which has hit hard in nations with widespread poverty could cause another 83 to 132 million people to become undernourished this year, according to the report.

Global trends had already been worsening before coronavirus, it said.

It said that failure to afford the cost of healthy diets was one of the key reasons that millions around the world are suffering from hunger, food security and malnutrition. Additionally, it hinted that adult obesity is on the rise with healthy diets of fruits, vegetables and protein-rich foods unaffordable to some 3 billion people.

The report found 21.3 per cent of children under five, or 144 million, experienced stunted growth due to malnutrition, most of them in Africa or Asia. Another 6.9 per cent were "wasted" with nutritional imbalances, while 5.6 per cent were overweight.

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