NEW YORK: United Nations agencies have warned that more than 350 million people in Asia-Pacific region, including in Pakistan, are facing hunger as the coronavirus pandemic destroys jobs and pushes food prices higher.
The report issued by four agencies – UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, UNICEF, the World Food Program, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) – said the pandemic is making it difficult for 1.9 billion people to afford healthy diets. It follows an earlier report that forecast that in a worst-case scenario that 828 million people might suffer from acute hunger due to the crisis.
The latest estimate is that nearly 688 million people globally are undernourished, more than half of them in Asia. The largest share is in South Asian countries like Afghanistan, where four in 10 people are malnourished.
The report said that five of the 45 countries requiring food assistance were in South, Southeast or East Asia. They include Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea and Myanmar.
Over the longer term, food insecurity had been improving before the pandemic hit. The report urged governments to transform food systems to ensure all are able to have nutritious diets. It called for a multidimensional approach ensuring better health care, water and sanitation, education and social protections.
The report is mostly based on data up to 2019 before the pandemic struck. But it also estimates that an additional 140 million people were likely to have fallen into extreme poverty in 2020 due to the impact of virus outbreaks and lockdowns. By the end of last year, some 265 million were estimated to be facing acute food insecurity.
A key factor is food affordability, a problem in wealthy nations like Japan as well as impoverished places like East Timor and Papua New Guinea. Disruptions and job losses due to the pandemic are preventing families from getting enough to eat in many places. This is evident by long lines seen at food banks even in the United States.
In India, broken supply chains and transport problems, especially during pandemic lockdowns, have prevented surplus grain stocks from reaching all those in need while day labourers and migrants are the most vulnerable.
Across Asia, high prices for fruits, vegetables and dairy products have made it “nearly impossible” for low-income families to have healthy diets, the report said.
FAO data show food prices rose to their highest level in nearly six years in November. The cost of long-term deprivation is seen in higher rates of death and illness. Tens of millions of children suffer from wasting or stunting, failing to grow well and unable to achieve their full potential.
