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Small Sips #9: Global Hunger Hotspots

Before we begin this week’s Small Sip, just a quick reminder of GRAN’s Right to Food online Learning Event with Dr. Elizabeth Vibert happening next week, Tuesday, April 4th at 3:00 p.m. ET. We’re excited about this opportunity for learning and discussion and hope that you will join us. If you have not yet registered you can do so here.

Hunger Hotspots

Climate-driven Hunger

Recently, Oxfam looked at 10 of the worst climate hotspots in the world – countries that have had the highest number of UN appeals related to major weather extremes since 2000. They are: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Somalia and Zimbabwe. Oxfam found that acute hunger has more than doubled in each of these countries over the past six years. Nearly 18 million of their citizens are on the brink of starvation. The correlation between weather-related crises and rising hunger in these countries, and others, is stark and undeniable.

Hunger in Africa

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022 provides information on the prevalence of undernourishment and of moderate to severe food insecurity around the world. It reports that, while the largest number of the world’s undernourished people live in Asia, Africa has the highest proportion of people who are severely food insecure (23.4%) and the highest prevalence of undernourishment. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, billions of people in the world cannot afford a healthy diet. They report that in 12 countries, all of them in Africa, more than 90 percent of the population cannot regularly afford a healthy diet.

The Global Food Security Index (2022) measures food security across 113 countries by comparing data on food affordability, availability, quality and safety, and also sustainability and adaptation. The most recent edition of the index shows enormous disparity across the world. Canada ranks 7th in the world in being food secure. The vast majority of the lowest-ranking countries are in Africa.

Dig Deeper…

A Tale of Empty Plates – Powerful visual representation of global hunger that can be shared on social media. The graphic is interactive. Once the introduction comes to a stop, you are prompted to scroll to find out more. Use the space bar on your keyboard or up and down arrows to access all the information available.

Drought, Hunger, and Displacement in the Horn of Africa – News from the UN Refugee Agency on the worsening situation for people fleeing their homes due to drought and conflict, and what is being done to help them.

Hunger in a Heating World – Oxfam report on how the climate crisis is fueling hunger in an already hungry world.

Global indicators on the costs of healthy diets and how many people can’t afford them – report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

 

[This is the ninth installment in GRAN’s Small Sips series on The Right to Food.]

 

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