Corporate DispatchPro
The sweet and sour of hunger action With World War II still raging, in 1943, governments from over 40 countries convened to fight another cross-border threat: hunger. Within two years, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was set up on the Latin promise fiat panis – let there be bread. The push to eradicate chronic hunger and food insecurity was one of the collective achievements of the 20th century. Fifty years after the seeds of the FAO were sown, the global share of undernourished individuals stood at less than one in five while the world population more than doubled. Towards the end of the 2010s, that share nearly halved to 10.8 per cent. Although the successes over the decades are indeed remarkable, thanks to advances in research, technologies, distribution, and rising living standards, the World Hunger Index (GHI) estimates that 820 million people still suffer undernourishment. More worrying still, is the disparity between developed nations and the rest of the international community. Almost two-thirds of hunger emergency hotspots are located in the Asia Pacific region while the remaining zones are mainly concentrated in Sub Saharan Africa. Today, no country has a majority of people experiencing hunger, but the severity of malnutrition is “alarmingly high” in Chad, Timor-Leste, and Madagascar with more than one person in three affected. The GHI considers the situation in 31 countries “serious”, as undernourishment affects between a fifth to a third of the national population. Another 26 countries have a “moderate” challenge in malnutrition, with more than a tenth of people battling hunger. The global 17
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