A United Nations study indicates that hunger in the Arab region continues to rise, threatening the region’s efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Zero Hunger goal. The latest edition of the Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in the Near East and North Africa estimates that more than 51 million people in the region are suffering from hunger.
According to the report, the “triple burden of malnutrition” consisting of undernutrition, overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies (often linked to poor diets) continue to increase at an alarming speed in the Arab region, particularly among school-age children and adults.
The report highlights that 22.5 percent of children under 5 years of age were stunted, 9.2 percent wasted and 9.9 percent were overweight. The Arab region also ranked second for adult obesity in the world in 2019, with 27 percent of the adult population obese.
Vulnerable food systems is a serious concern in the Arab region
“Conflicts and protracted crises continue to be the main drivers behind the degrading hunger situation. The situation is also exacerbated by the region’s food systems that are failing to deliver affordable, diverse, safe, and nutritious food to all. Population growth and migration, increasing dependency on food imports, water scarcity, and the threat of climate change are also putting a heavy toll on the region’s food systems and increase its vulnerability,” said Abdulhakim El Waer, FAO‘s Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa while commenting on the latest report.
“Ensuring resilient food systems is not only essential for progress toward Zero Hunger but for the achievement of all interlinked SDGs. Combined with import dependency, population growth, and displacement, the multitude of threats to the resilience of national and local food systems requires a systematic approach in intervention designs that consider each beneficiary and policies’ situation in the larger food environment and supply chain,” stressed Dina Saleh, Regional Director from the Near East, North Africa, and Europe Division, within the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Healthy diets for ending hunger and malnutrition
This year, the report focuses its attention on the resilience of the food systems. Resilience is critical to improve the food security and nutrition situation in the region and to ensure that the region’s food systems are able to resist and recover from shocks and stresses, like the COVID-19 pandemic. It also includes an in-depth analysis of current dietary patterns, and the costs of diets for individuals, society, and the planet.
“COVID-19 undermined the already fragile food systems in the Arab region, while the number of undernourished people was already well over 50 million. It is time for urgent action to transform our socio-economic policies, food system strategies, and modes of economic and technological governance, to achieve their sustainability and inclusiveness, and ensure food accessibility and healthy diets for all,” Rola Dashti, Executive Secretary, ESCWA, highlighted.
According to the report, growing urbanization, liberalization of markets, and demographic, social, economic, and political changes have been contributing to a progressive shift in the way the population of the Arab region eats.
“Volatile exchange rates and high prices affect many countries in the region, it is now all the more important to help the most vulnerable to grow their food, generate incomes and become more resilient in the face of these multiple shocks. The past years have shown us how economic collapse and conflict threaten to keep even bread out of peoples’ hands. Peoples’ ability to put food on the table is key to the stability of societies. Hunger and uncertainty about the next meal breed conflict and political instability” says Corinne Fleischer, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
New consumption patterns include shifting away from healthy diets, the traditional, seasonal, and more diverse diets rich in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. They are greatly influencing the nature, scope, and magnitude of nutrition problems in the region as well as the burden of diseases and risk factors associated with them.
“Despite the importance of dietary diversity for both the physical and cognitive development of children, diverse and nutritious foods are currently not accessible to all. Conflicts and political instability have contributed to inequities in access to healthy diets within and between countries of the region. Many countries in the region still show high levels of stunting or overweight in children. This underlines the need for food systems that protect, promote, and support diets, services, and practices that prevent child malnutrition in all its forms,” said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“WHO has developed a strategy on nutrition for the region which includes the creation of sustainable, resilient food systems for healthy diets as a key area for action. The strategy is a commitment by countries to deliver our vision of health for all by all through action on nutrition to achieve food security, end all forms of malnutrition and improve nutrition throughout the life-course by 2030,” said Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.
