The new United Nations report Food and Nutrition Security Panorama 2022 ensures that 22.5% of people in Latin America and the Caribbean, that is, some 131.3 million people, do not have sufficient means to access a healthy diet.
In the Caribbean, this percentage shoots up to 52% of the population while in Mesoamerica the figure is 27.8% and in South America, 18.4%.
This represents an increase of eight million compared to 2019, due to a higher average daily cost of this type of diet in Latin America and the Caribbean compared to the rest of the world regions, reaching a value of 4 in the Caribbean. .23 dollars, followed by South America and Mesoamerica with 3.61 and 3.47, respectively.
The lack of economic access or affordability of a healthy diet observed throughout the region is also associated with different socioeconomic and nutritional indicators.
Inequality, poverty and inflation
The report presents a clear relationship between the level of income of a country, the incidence of poverty and the level of inequality.
The report also revealed that the increase in international food prices experienced since 2020, especially after the start of the conflict in Ukraine, and the rise in food inflation that is above the general average, have increased the difficulties for people can access a healthy diet.
The report includes policy analysis and recommendations to improve the availability and affordability of nutritious food, primarily to support the most vulnerable people and low-income households that spend a larger share of their budget on food.
performances
However, Mario Lubetkin, deputy director and regional representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Latin America and the Caribbean, points out that “no single policy can provide the solution to this problem. Necessary strengthen national and regional coordination mechanisms to respond to hunger and malnutrition,” said
And he added that, to contribute to the affordability of healthy diets, it is required:
- create incentives for the diversification of the production of nutritious foods aimed mainly at family farming and small-scale producers
- measures for the transparency of the prices of these foods in the markets and trade
- cash transfers and other actions such as improving school menus
Trade and market policies can play a key role in improving food security and nutrition, as that through greater transparency and efficiency uncertainty is reduced and the predictability and stability of interregional agri-food trade is improved.
The most expensive healthy diet
“We are talking about the region of the world with the most expensive healthy diet, which particularly affects vulnerable populationssuch as small farmers, rural women, and indigenous and Afro-descendant populations, who allocate a greater percentage of their income to the purchase of food,” explained Rossana Polastri, regional director of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Polastri proposed “to reverse this situation”, promote innovative solutions that diversify production and increase the supply of healthy food, improving the access of small producers to markets and quality food.”
The report also describes how some nutrition-sensitive social protection programs have worked and are essential to support the diets of the most vulnerable population, particularly in crisis situations.
“Food insecurity will continue to rise due to the food and fuel price crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine and the aftermath of COVID-19,” said Lola Castro, regional director of the World Food Program.
Castro said that it is imperative to act now, “supporting governments to expand social protection networks” and recalled how the pandemic showed precisely that social protection is useful to improve the affordability of a healthy diet “preventing crises like this from hitting even more to the affected populations.
Labeling, subsidies and taxes
Other food policies, such as nutrition labelling, subsidizing nutritious foods, and taxing foods with high energy density and low nutritional value that do not contribute to healthy diets, could play a role in the affordability of healthy diets and prevent diseases related to overweight and obesity.
“We must redouble efforts to tackle malnutrition in all its forms promoting public policies to create healthy eating environmentseliminate industrially produced trans fats, implement frontal warning labeling, regulate the advertising of unhealthy foods, establish taxes on sugary drinks, and support healthy eating and physical activity policies in schools”, considered the former director of the Pan American Health OrganizationCarissa F. Etienne.
And he explained that “understanding the factors that determine poor food practices is key to finding solutions and ensuring that everyone in the region can access healthy food.”
The greater poverty and inequality, the less healthy diet
For example, countries with higher levels of poverty and inequality tend to have greater difficulties in accessing a healthy diet. This is directly associated with a higher prevalence of hunger, chronic malnutrition in boys and girls and anemia in women aged 15 to 49.
In this context, Garry Conelli, regional director of UNICEF for Latin America and the Caribbean, declared that “in order for children to grow up healthy, it is not only urgent to ensure the availability of nutritious food at affordable prices. It is also necessary to develop public policies that guarantee adequate nutrition (…) focusing actions on the most vulnerable populations”.
The number of hungry people in the region continues to rise
The socioeconomic panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean is not encouraging; The most affected population groups are children under 5 years of age and women, since they suffer a higher prevalence of food insecurity than men.
Between 2019 and 2021the number of hunger in the region increased by 13.2 millionreaching a total of 56.5 million people in 2021, a situation that was also affected by the impact of the pandemic caused by COVID-19.
This increase was led by South America, where an additional 11 million people suffered from hunger. Between 2019 and 2021, hunger reached a prevalence of 7.9% in South America, 8.4% in Mesoamerica, and 16.4% in the Caribbean.
With respect to moderate or severe food insecurity, in 2021 40.6% of the regional population experienced this situation, compared to 29.3% of the population worldwide. Severe food insecurity is also more frequent in the region (14.2%) than in the world (11.7%).
Other figures presented in the report indicate that the region registers an important evolution regarding the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in children under 5 years of age.
In 2020, this figure was 11.3% in Latin America and the Caribbean, approximately 10 percentage points below the world average. However, 3.9 million children up to 5 years of age are overweight.
*The report is a joint publication of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO; the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).
