July 12 (UPI) — The world’s food problems have become more pronounced during the pandemic according to a report issued Monday from the world’s leading humanitarian organizations.
The report details the stark effects the pandemic had on undernourishment across the world. A full tenth of the world’s population was undernourished last year — a number comprising 811 million people globally — according to data released by researchers.
The heads of the agencies backing the report wrote “the pandemic continues to expose weaknesses in our food systems, which threaten the lives and livelihoods of people around the world” in its foreword.
“No region of the world has been spared,” the reports author’s wrote. “The high cost of healthy diets and persistently high levels of poverty and income inequality continue to keep healthy diets out of reach for around 3 billion people in every region of the world.”
The report “Food Security and Nutrition in the World” was drafted through the combined efforts of the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the U.N. World Food Program.
Researchers found hunger is up across the globe by about 1.5% since 2019 and that child malnutrition is worsening.
The increase was attributed to a recession subsequent to the pandemic that jeopardized access to food.
Data released shows Africa witnessed the highest increase of undernourishment with 21% of the population. This rate is twice as high as any other continent.
Reports authors noted Asia has the highest undernourished population at 417 million people.
An increase also was recorded in children 5 and under were noted to be stunted or undersized and underweight for their age.
Altogether an estimated 149 million children are undernourished across the world, according to the authors.
“Child malnutrition continues to be a challenge, particularly in Africa and Asia,” the report foreword said.
In May Haiti noted its child malnutrition rate had doubled in one year.
Report authors estimate 3.3 billion people cannot afford healthy diets due to lack of wealth and that females also had a high incidence of undernourishment at a 11:10 ratio to men.
Despite the downturn those involved in ending world hunger expressed optimism.
“This year offers a unique opportunity for advancing food security and nutrition through transforming food systems with the upcoming U.N. Food Systems Summit, the Nutrition for Growth Summit and the COP26 on climate change,” the agencies wrote.
Amid such reports, Google launched a food service aimed at feeding the hungry in late June.
The Find Food Support site allows those affected easy access to support services act may exist to help them in their communities.
Feeding America found food insecurity increased 30% over last year.