Friday, October 13, 2017

Hungry times again

Global hunger has fallen more than a quarter since 2000, but conflict and climate shocks are beginning to reverse these gains.

Nearly half of the 119 countries surveyed had "serious", "alarming" or "extremely alarming" hunger levels between 2012 and 2016, with war-torn Central African Republic worst affected, followed by Chad, Sierra Leone, Madagascar and Zambia. South Sudan and Somalia, which are at risk of renewed famine, were among 13 countries excluded from the index due to lack of data.

"Conflict and climate-related shocks are at the heart of this problem," said Dominic MacSorley, chief executive of Concern, which compiled the report along with the International Food Policy Research Institute and Welthungerhilfe. The United Nations said last month that global hunger levels have risen for the first time in more than a decade, now affecting 11 percent of the world's population

About half of the populations in the hungriest countries were short of food, it said.

Women, girls and ethnic minorities are most at risk of hunger, which causes nearly half of deaths in under fives, it said. 

"The world needs to act as one community with the shared goal of ensuring not a single child goes to bed hungry each night and no-one is left behind," MacSorley said.

No comments: