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Book (series)Near East and North Africa – Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition, 2022
Statistics and trends
2023Also available in:
This year’s report presents evidence that Arab States face significant challenges in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 targets related to hunger, food security, and nutrition, as undernourishment, moderate or severe food insecurity, and malnourishment are increasing. Child wasting and overweight are higher, and adult obesity is double the global average. LDCs and conflict-affected countries suffer from even more severe hunger and malnutrition, including child stunting, wasting, and women’s anaemia. The report also provides the first assessment of the cost and affordability of a healthy diet since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shows a growing trend in the price of nutritious diets in recent years and that more than half the Arab population cannot afford a healthy diet. The Ukraine crisis, which has triggered food shortages and increased food price inflation, further adds to the burden on the region. This year, the report focuses on how trade can enable regional food security and nutrition. Arab countries rely significantly on imports for the essential food items necessary for diverse and healthy diets that they cannot locally produce in sufficient quantities due to limited natural resource endowments. It discusses the role of trade and trade facilitation as essential enablers of all four dimensions of food security and nutrition. It also underlines how tariffs and non-tariff measures influence the economic access to food in the area. On the other hand, countries that depend on trade may become more exposed to outside shocks, as the pandemic and the Ukraine crisis have highlighted. The report assesses Arab countries’ vulnerabilities, such as import dependency and lack of supplier diversification. To reduce the exposure to such external shocks, international trade must be carefully managed, sources of imports should be diversified, and international trade relations must be expanded to include new partners and markets. The report concludes with further policy recommendations that aim for the better integration of trade into food security and nutrition policies in the region. -
Book (series)Near East and North Africa - Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2023
Statstics and trends
2023Also available in:
The Overview presents the food security and nutrition situation in the Arab States for 2022 when the effects of the war in Ukraine and record-high food and fertilizer prices hit the region that was just recovering from the economic and social shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.Consequently, hunger in the Arab States has reached its highest level since 2000. The Arab region continued to suffer from the triple burden of malnutrition: besides undernutrition, child overweight/adult obesity and micronutrient deficiencies, such as anaemia. The prevalences of overweight among children and of anaemia among women are higher than the world average. The downward trend of child stunting has slowed down, and recent high food prices might even reverse it. Furthermore, the cost of a healthy diet in the region has been increasing in recent years, and healthy diets are out of reach for almost every other person in the Arab States.The region’s deteriorating food security and nutrition situation calls for the urgent need to transform agrifood systems, making them more resilient to shocks and emerging crises, more efficient, inclusive and sustainable to reach the Sustainable Development Goal 2 targets. -
Book (series)Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in the Near East and North Africa 2019 - Rethinking food systems for healthy diets and improved nutrition 2020
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No results found.The past few decades have seen dramatic improvements in the region in access to food, reduction in stunting rates, in premature death and disability caused by communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases. However, the gains in the fight against hunger and malnutrition have reversed in the wake of conflicts and violence that have spread in many parts of the region in the last decade. Today, nearly 55 million people in the Arab States, 13.2 percent of the population, are hungry and the situation is particularly worrying in countries affected by conflicts and violence: Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, the Sudan, and Yemen. Displacements and forced migration are widespread in the region, especially among the growing youth population segment. Many countries carry a double burden of malnutrition, including overweight and obesity and undernutrition. A high or very high prevalence of stunting in children under the age of five persists in nearly half of the Arab States, while anaemia is a severe public health issue in certain countries. The trends of overweight and obesity continue to worsen for children and adults. Beyond these numbers, the report explores food systems in the Arab States and the policies that support them. It also explores how the latter have contributed to poor nutritional outcomes by failing to make safe and diversified healthy diets available to all. While there has been significant progress in policies designed to reduce caloric deficiencies in the population, the policy reaction to address existing malnutrition problems, particularly in relation to overweight and obesity,
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