FOOD INSECURITY

• Food insecurity is defined by the UN FAO as the “situation when people lack secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life.”

• Food insecurity can be caused by a number of factors, including the unavailability of food, unaffordable food, and unequal distribution of food between household members.

• According to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 14 to 22 million people will slide into extreme poverty for every 1% decline in global economic growth.

• “Economic crisis, conflict, and a decline in aid create a perfect storm,” according to Director Beasley, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, stressing that there is “a real danger that more people could potentially die from the economic impact of COVID-19 than from the virus itself.”

• The pandemic is the final straw for millions of people already struggling with the impacts of conflict, climate change, inequality and a broken food system that has impoverished millions of food producers and workers.

Global Food Security Index (2022)

The Global Food Security Index considers the core issues of affordability, availability, and quality across a set of 113 countries. This index is the first to examine food security comprehensively across the three internationally established dimensions: AFFORDABILITY, AVAILABILITY and QUALITY & SAFETY. Moreover, the study looks beyond hunger to the underlying factors affecting food insecurity.