Global report on food crises 2019
The 2019 Global Report on Food Crises (PDF), by the Food Security Information Network, provides the latest estimates of severe hunger in the world caused by food crises. More than 113 million people accross 53 countries experiences acute hunger, of which two thirds live in only eight countries. This is a slight improvement compared to 2017, however year on year over 100 million people faced periods of actue hunger. The modest decrease between 2017 and 2018 is largely attributed to changes in climate shocks. High levels of acute and chronic malnutrition in children living in emergency conditions remained of grave concern. The primary driver of food insecurity continued to be conflict and insecurity. Thereafter follows climate shocks and natural disasters, that mostly affected people in Africa. Another key driver was economic turbulence. For 2019, large segments in a number of countries risk falling into level 4 out of 5 of acute food insecurity. Climate shocks and conflict will continue driving food insecurity and are expected once again to severely affect several regions, while the needs of refugees and migrants in host countries are expected to remain significant. Ending conflicts, empowering women, nourishing and educating children, improving rural infrastructure and reinforcing social safety-nets are essential for a resilient, stable and hunger-free world. Investments in conflict prevention and sustaining peace will save lives and livelihoods, reduce structural vulnerabilities and address the root causes of hunger. The report demonstrates the need for simultaneous action across the humanitarian-development nexus to deliver a hunger-free world. Overall, quality of data has improved but there are countries for which there are data gaps. Collecting and analyzing data on vulnerable populations is vital in ensuring a situation analysis that identifies not only outomes, but hunger’s key drivers for a targeted and integrated response for multiple partners working in development and humanitarious spheres.
An abridged version of the report and the key messages (also in French) are available here.