Santiago de Chile/Panama City, Nov. 7, 2018 – Hunger,
malnutrition, lack of micronutrients, overweight and obesity have
greater impact on people with lower income, women, indigenous
people, Afro-descendants and rural families in Latin America and
the Caribbean, according to a new UN report.
The Panorama of Food and
Nutrition Security 2018, focuses on the close linkages
between economic and social inequality and the higher levels of
hunger, obesity and malnutrition of the most vulnerable
populations of the region.
According to the report, in Latin America, 8,4 percent of women
live in severe food insecurity, compared to 6,9 percent of men,
while indigenous populations generally suffer greater food
insecurity than non-indigenous people. In ten countries,
children from the poorest 20 percent of households suffer three
times more stunting than the richest 20 percent.
The Panorama indicates that one of the main causes of the rise
of malnutrition in vulnerable population groups are the changes
that the region’s food systems – the cycle of food from
production to consumption – have undergone.
These changes have affected the entire population, but the most
excluded members of society have suffered the worst effects;
while many have increased their consumption of healthy foods
such as milk and meat, often they must opt for cheap products
with high fat, sugar and salt content.
To respond to growing malnutrition, the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Pan American
Health Organization (PAHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF), and the World Food Program (WFP), call on countries to
implement public policies that combat inequality and promote
healthy and sustainable food systems.
Each
year obesity grows by 3.6 million people
Obesity has become the greatest nutritional threat in Latin
America and the Caribbean. Nearly one in four adults is obese.
Overweight affects 7.3 percent (3.9 million) of children under 5
years of age, a figure that exceeds the world average of 5.6
percent, the Panorama report indicates.
“Obesity is growing uncontrollably. Each year we are adding 3.6
million obese people to this region. 250 million people live
with overweight, 60 percent of the regional population. The
situation is appalling,” said FAO’s Regional Representative
Julio Berdegué.
“Although undernourishment persists in the region, particularly
in vulnerable populations, we must also consider obesity and
overweight, which also affect these groups. A multisectoral
approach is needed, one that ensures access to balanced and
healthy foods while addressing other social factors that also
impact on these forms of malnutrition, such as access to
education, water and sanitation, and health services”, said
Carissa F. Etienne, Director of PAHO/WHO. “We must advance
access to universal healthcare so that all people can receive
the care and prevention measures they need due to malnutrition
and its long-term consequences”, she added.
Undernourishment
increases for third straigh year
According to the Panorama, hunger affects 39.3 million people in
Latin America and the Caribbean, 6.1 percent of the regional
population. Between 2015 and 2016, the number of undernourished
people grew by 200 000 people. Between 2016 and 2017, the
increase was 400 000; This shows that the speed of deterioration
is increasing.
Since 2014, Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela saw increases in
their number of undernourished people. The largest increase
occurred in Venezuela: 600 000 more people only between
2014-2016 and 2015-2017.
Venezuela has become one of the countries with the highest
number of undernourishment in the region (3.7 million, 11.7
percent of its population), along with Haiti (5 million, 45.7
percent of its population) and Mexico (4.8 million, 3.8
percent of its population).
It should be noted, however, that in Haiti and Mexico hunger has
fallen in the last three years, as well as in Colombia and the
Dominican Republic. They are the only four countries that have
achieved this reduction since 2014.
Eleven countries maintain their number of undernourished people
relatively unchanged: Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and
Peru. On the other hand, Brazil, Cuba and Uruguay are the three
countries in the region with percentages of hunger below 2.5% of
their population.
Economic
and social inequality is associated with child stunting
According to the Panorama, social and economic inequalities are
also apparent in child stunting. In Honduras, stunting affects
42% of children in lower income families and only 8 percent of
those living in higher income contexts. In Guatemala, the
difference is greater: stunting affects the poorest 66 percent
and only 17 percent of the children of higher-income families.
Stunting is also greater in the indigenous population. In
Ecuador, 42 percent of indigenous children lived with chronic
malnutrition compared to 25 percent of the national average
(2012). In Guatemala, stunting affected 61 percent of
indigenous children in 2014-2015 and only 34 percent of
non-indigenous children.
Children in rural areas also have worse indicators than those
living in urban areas. In Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Suriname the rates of
stunting in rural areas exceed the rates observed in urban areas
by more than 50 percent.
“Stunting is closely correlated with inequality and poverty, but
overweight is also increasingly affecting the poorest children.
They face conditions of high social and economic vulnerability
and suffer from inequitable access to health services and
healthy diets,” said María Cristina Perceval, regional director
for UNICEF Latin America and the Caribbean.
Women
suffer more food insecurity than men
The Panorama indicates that 19 million women suffer severe food
insecurity, compared to 15 million men. In all the countries of
the region, the obesity rate of adult women is higher than that
of men. In 19 of them, the rate of female obesity is at least 10
percentage points higher than that of men.
But the inequality that affects women is not only seen in terms
of gender: anemia in women of childbearing age, for example,
affects women with fewer resources to a greater extent than
women that belong to a higher income bracket.
“Gender equity is a valuable policy instrument to reduce
inequalities We need to strengthen it in practice, which
involves promoting equality in access and control of household
resources, as well as in decisions to empower women in
inequality”, said Miguel Barreto, Regional Director of WFP for
Latin America and the Caribbean.