Miller Magazine Issue: 128 August 2020

23 NEWS MILLER / August 2020 ce 2014. This means that over the last five years, hunger has grown in step with the global population. This, in turn, hides great regional disparities: in percentage terms, Af- rica is the hardest hit region and be- coming more so, with 19.1 percent of its people undernourished. This is more than double the rate in Asia (8.3 percent) and in Latin America and the Caribbean (7.4 percent). On current trends, by 2030, Africa will be home to more than half of the world's chro- nically hungry. THE PANDEMIC'S TOLL As progress in fighting hunger stalls, the COVID-19 pandemic is intensif- ying the vulnerabilities and inadequa- cies of global food systems - unders- tood as all the activities and processes affecting the production, distribution and consumption of food. While it is too soon to assess the full impact of the lockdowns and other containment measures, the report estimates that at a minimum, another 83 million people, and possibly as many as 132 million, may go hungry in 2020 as a result of the economic recession triggered by COVID-19. The setback throws into further doubt the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger). UNHEALTHY DIETS, FOOD INSECURİTY AND MALNUTRITION Overcoming hunger and malnutrition in all its forms (including undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and obesity) is about more than securing enough food to survive: what people eat - and especially what children eat - must also be nutritious. Yet a key obstacle is the high cost of nutritious foods and the low affordability of healthy diets for vast numbers of families. The report presents evidence that a healthy diet costs far more than US$ 1.90/day, the international poverty threshold. It puts the price of even the least expensive healthy diet at five times the price of filling stomachs with starch only. Nutrient-rich dairy, fruits, vegetables and pro- tein-rich foods (plant and animal-sourced) are the most expensive food groups globally. The latest estimates are that a staggering 3 billion pe- ople or more cannot afford a healthy diet. In sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, this is the case for 57 percent of the population - though no region, including North Ame- rica and Europe, is spared. Partly as a result, the race to end malnutrition appears compromised. According to the report, in 2019, between a quarter and a third of child- ren under five (191 million) were stunted or wasted - too short or too thin. Another 38 million under-fives were overweight. Among adults, meanwhile, obesity has beco- me a global pandemic in its own right. A CALL TO ACTION The report argues that once sustainability considerati- ons are factored in, a global switch to healthy diets would help check the backslide into hunger while delivering enormous savings. It calculates that such a shift would allow the health costs associated with unhealthy diets, estimated to reach US$ 1.3 trillion a year in 2030, to be almost entirely offset; while the diet-related social cost of greenhouse gas emissions, estimated at US$ 1.7 trillion, could be cut by up to three-quarters. The report urges a transformation of food systems to reduce the cost of nutritious foods and increase the af- fordability of healthy diets. While the specific solutions will differ from country to country, and even within them, the overall answers lie with interventions along the entire food supply chain, in the food environment, and in the political economy that shapes trade, public expenditure and investment policies. The study calls on governments to mainstream nutrition in their approaches to agriculture; work to cut cost-escalating factors in the production, sto- rage, transport, distribution and marketing of food - inc- luding by reducing inefficiencies and food loss and waste; support local small-scale producers to grow and sell more nutritious foods, and secure their access to markets; prio- ritize children's nutrition as the category in greatest need; foster behaviour change through education and commu- nication; and embed nutrition in national social protection systems and investment strategies. The heads of the five UN agencies behind the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World declare their commitment to support this momentous shift, ensuring that it unfolds "in a sustainable way, for pe- ople and the planet."