Hunger in the Arab Region Reaches a New Height As Challenges Intensify - UN Report

UN agencies call for enhanced and increased financing towards agri-food system transformation to combat hunger and malnutrition in the region

Hunger in the Arab region worsened amid deepening crises in 2023, according to a UN report launched today by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

The report, titled '2024 Near East and North Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition,' warns that the Arab region remains off-track to meet the food security and nutrition targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

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In 2023, 66.1 million people, approximately 14 percent of the population in the Arab region, faced hunger. The report highlights that access to adequate food remains elusive for millions. Around 186.5 million people - 39.4 percent of the population - faced moderate or severe food insecurity, an increase of 1.1 percentage points from the previous year. Alarmingly, 72.7 million people experienced severe food insecurity.

The report's analysis shows that conflict is the main driver of food insecurity and malnutrition in the region. Economic challenges, high income inequalities, and climate extremes also play significant roles. Rising food prices have worsened the crisis. In 2023, undernourishment rates in conflict-affected countries soared to 26.4%, which is four times higher than the 6.6% in non-conflict areas.

Tragically, food security and nutrition indicators are projected to deteriorate further due to ongoing conflicts coupled with persistent droughts across many parts of the region.

Key findings beyond hunger

Economic access to healthy diets remains a critical issue, affecting over one-third of the population in the Arab region. In 2022, new food price data and methodological improvements revealed that 151.3 million people could not afford a healthy diet. Conflict-affected countries experienced the highest rates, with 41.2% of their populations struggling to afford a healthy diet.

The report highlights the continued suffering of the Arab region from the triple burden of malnutrition, including rising trends in child and adult obesity, wasting, and nutrient deficiencies such as anaemia among women.

Although progress has been made in decreasing stunting rates from 28.0% in 2000 to 19.9% in 2022, achieving nutrition targets in the Arab region remains a challenge. The prevalence of wasting in children also exceeded the global average, with low-income countries experiencing the highest rates at 14.6%.

In 2022, 9.5% of children under five years were overweight, nearly double the global average. This marks an 8% increase since 2000, with the highest rates observed in Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt.

According to the report, the prevalence of anaemia among women aged 15 to 49 stood at 33.2% in 2019, higher than the global average, with the highest rates in low-income countries at 43.9%.

Despite some improvements, adult obesity rates in the Arab States remain alarmingly high, with a prevalence of 32.1% in 2022, more than double the global rate. Upper-middle-income countries had the highest rates at 33.8%, with Egypt, Qatar, and Kuwait leading in country-specific obesity rates.

Driving agrifood transformation through innovative financing

This 2024 report theme, "Financing the transformation of agrifood systems for food security and nutrition," underscores the necessity of a comprehensive strategy to achieve SDG 2: Zero Hunger. The report emphasizes the need to transform and strengthen agrifood systems, address inequalities, and ensure that healthy diets are affordable and accessible to all.

The 2024 NENA Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition urgently calls for increased and more cost-effective financing. It recommends innovative financing mechanisms -- such as capital guarantees, results-based financing, climate financing, debt swaps, advance market commitments, and innovation incubators -- to bridge the funding gap.

The report highlights the need to tailor these approaches to each country's financial capabilities and align stakeholder objectives to safeguard agrifood systems. Additionally, the report calls for conducive regulatory environments and policy improvements to attract capital to these innovative vehicles.

"It is now crucial to optimize the use of existing public resources and secure additional funding to drive positive impacts across agrifood, socioeconomic, and environmental systems. Innovative financial instruments are key to transforming agrifood systems in the Arab States and closing the funding gap," FAO's Assistant Director-General and NENA Regional Representative Abdulhakim Elwaer said in the report's joint foreword, together with Dina Saleh, IFAD Regional Director of the Near East, North Africa and Europe Division; Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director the Middle East and North Africa; Corinne Fleischer, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, Northern Africa, and Eastern Europe; Dr. Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean; and Rola Dashti, ESCWA Executive Secretary.

The UN agencies assert that the report's findings will trigger new momentum for agrifood systems transformation in the Arab region, creating more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems for people and the planet.

Building on the findings of the report, the UN agencies issued the "Cairo Declaration on Financing Agrifood Systems Transformation in the Near East and North Africa Region" during today's launch event. In this declaration, they affirm their commitment to deepen collaboration among themselves and with international and regional development banks, the private sector, and national governments.

This collaborative effort aims to develop, scale up, and deploy additional financial resources to support the transformation of regional agrifood systems to achieve food security and nutrition.

Additionally, the UN agencies propose launching collaborative financing platforms. These initiatives will be in collaboration with beneficiary governments, development and financing partners to achieve SDG2.

Related links:

2024 NENA Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition Cairo Declaration on Financing Agrifood Systems Transformation in the Near East and North Africa Region Read the Publication: Repurposing agricultural subsidies for sustainable and resilient agrifood systems in the Near East and North Africa region

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Notes to the editor:

The Near East and North Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition Every year, the FAO publishes key statistics on food security and nutrition in the Near East and North Africa through its Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition. This report not only presents data on progress towards ending hunger, achieving food security, and improving nutrition but also provides an in-depth analysis of the key regional challenges to achieving these goals within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The first Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in the Near East and North Africa was published by the FAO in 2015, offering insights into the region's progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and the World Food Summit hunger targets. Since 2019, this regional report has been jointly produced with fellow UN agencies IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, WHO, and ESCWA.

Glossary of key terms

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Read the original article on WFP.