Between 2019 and 2021, the prevalence of malnutrition in the total population of Morocco was around 5.6%, equivalent to 2.1 million people, compared to 5.5% during the period 2004-2006 . This was stated by the Food Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in a recent report on world hunger.
Thus, the proportion of cases of severe food insecurity out of the total Moroccan population reached 9.7% between 2019 and 2021, i.e. approximately 3.6 million people, compared to 6% in 2014-2016, this 2022 edition reports. of the UN report entitled ” The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World“, and published jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Program ( WFP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The UN report thus attempts to lift the veil on food insecurity in the world and the risk to humanity. For Morocco, the prevalence of wasting among Moroccan children under 5 is estimated at around 2.6%, while the rate of stunting and development in the same category is estimated at around 12.9 % in 2020.
In addition, 11.3% of under-5s are overweight, the report says. Also with regard to obesity, the report indicates that the prevalence reached 26.1% among adults over 18 years of age. As for women, the report specifies that anemia is prevalent among women between 15 and 49 years old at a high 29.9%.
Globally, world hunger is on the rise, the report says, and may have affected up to 828 million people in 2021, up from around 46 million from 2020 and 150 million since the onset of the outbreak. the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thus, the figures mentioned by the report paint a dark picture according to its directors. Indeed, after remaining relatively stable since 2015, the proportion of people affected by hunger jumped in 2020 and continued to grow in 2021, reaching 9.8% of the world’s population, the report noted, noting that in 2019 and 2020, this share was 8% and 9.3% respectively.
In 2021, some 2.3 billion people (29.3% of the world’s population) were moderately or severely food insecure, 350 million more than before the COVID-19 pandemic, says the same source.
Similarly, nearly 924 million people (11.7% of the world’s population) faced severe food insecurity, an increase of 207 million people in two years, while in 2021 the gap between women and men with regard to food insecurity was further accentuated (31.9% of women in the world were in a situation of moderate or severe food insecurity, compared to 27.6% of men, a gap of more by 4 percentage points, compared to 3 percentage points in 2020) raises the report.
In 2020, the report continues that almost 3.1 billion people could not afford a healthy diet, explaining that this figure, which is 112 million higher than in 2019, is explained by inflation in the consumer prices of products. food caused by the economic repercussions of the covid-19 pandemic and the measures put in place to contain it.
The report estimates that 45 million children under the age of 5 suffered from wasting, the most deadly form of malnutrition, which can multiply by 12 the risk of death among children. In addition, 149 million children under the age of 5 were stunted in growth and development due to a chronic lack of essential nutrients in their diets, and 39 million were overweight.
On the other hand, the report mentions exclusive breastfeeding which is progressing in the world citing the year in 2020, where almost 44% of infants under 6 months were exclusively breastfed. This level remains below the 50% to be reached by 2030.
The worrying observation raised by the experts in this report concerns children. It is reported that two out of three children do not have the minimum dietary diversity they need to grow and develop fully.
Looking to the future, the report expects that almost 670 million people (8% of the world’s population) will still suffer from hunger in 2030, even in the event of a global economic recovery.
” This figure is similar to that of 2015, when the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition by the end of the current decade was set as part of the Sustainable Development Agenda. 2030“, recalls the report.
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