Malnutrition affects 12% of Asia’s population
certain social groups, they said.
Widespread malnutrition
Malnutrition remains widespread in Africa, where around 20 per cent of the population is affected, and in Asia where more than 12 per cent of people experience it.
In L a t i n Amer i c a a nd the Caribbean, fewer than seven per cent of people are affected.
Addi ng t hose hit by food i nsec u r it y g ives a tot a l of more than two billion people, eight per cent of whom are in Nort h America and Europe, who don’t r e g u l a r l y have access to enough nutritious, safe food, t he report said.
The FAO said current efforts were insuff icient to meet t he goal of halv ing the number of ch i ld ren whose g row t h i s st unted by malnut r it ion by 2030.
Robin Willoughby, the head of food and climate policy at Oxfam GB, said women were h it ha rdest by t he r i s e i n hunger.
“A toxic brew of climate shocks, inequality and conflict i s u n r a v e l l i n g y e a r s o f progress,” he said.
“If we are to meet t he target of end i ng hu nger by 2030, governments must urgent ly cut g reen house emissions, prov ide more suppor t for small-sca le ag r icult ure a nd increase efforts to end violent conf licts.”
T he French non-gover nmenta l g roup CCFD-Ter re Solida ire sa id t hat in Af rica and Latin America, food insecurity was affecting emerging economies as wel l, a nd not just t hose considered to be t he least advanced.
Around 149 million of t he world’s ch i ld ren c u r rent l y su f fer f rom hu nger-related grow th delays.
At t he sa me t ime, t he UN report notes t hat obesit y and excess weight are both on the r i s e i n a l l r e g ion s , w it h s c ho ol-a g e c h i l d r e n a nd adults particula rly af fected.