A UN report affirmed that levels of hunger and malnutrition have reached critical levels in the Arab region as access to basic foods has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organizations (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the report revealed that an estimated 53.9 million people suffered from severe food insecurity in the Arab region in 2021, accounting for a 55 percent increase since 2010. This is also an increase of 5 million people from the previous year. Moderate or severe food insecurity has also continued its upward trend, affecting an estimated 154.3 million people in 2021, an increase of 11.6 million people over the previous year, the report also warned.
In addition, it stated that more than half the population in the Arab States, or 162.7 million people, could not afford a healthy diet in 2020.
The Arab region continues to suffer from multiple forms of malnutrition. While the prevalence of stunting (1) of 20.5 percent and affecting one out of every five children under 5 years of age was lower than the global average, the report indicates that the regional indicators for wasting (2), 7.8 percent, is higher than the global average of 6.7 percent. The prevalence of overweight among children under 5 years of age has shown a steady increase since 2000 and has reached 10.7 percent in 2020.
In addition, the report highlights that the latest available estimates show that 28.8 percent of the adult population (18 years and above) of the Arab region was obese, which is more than double the global average.
While the Arab region was already off-track from achieving zero hunger and nutrition-related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have exacerbated the situation by creating disruptions in supply chains and inflating the prices of grains, fertilizers and energy. Since the region depends heavily on imported food to meet its food security requirements, these crises have affected Arab countries disproportionately and aggravated food insecurity and malnutrition in the region.
The Overview highlights that trade is an essential enabler to ensure all four dimensions of food security and nutrition. However, most of the countries in the region have not mainstreamed trade into food security policies; thus, relevant policies must be redesigned accordingly and agrifood systems in the area must be transformed to make them more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable.
In conclusion, the report recommends that policymakers should focus on policies facilitating food trade such as reducing trade barriers, developing new free trade areas, promoting digital technologies, reducing non-tariff barriers, harmonizing regulatory practices, strengthening governance, and promoting collaboration and coherence among countries and the global community. (QNA)
Source: Qatar News Agency