The end of this year (2015) marks the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by world leaders at the United Nation General Assembly in the year 2000. One of these goals is to reduce the proportion of hungry and undernourished people in the world by half. A significant reduction in global hunger has indeed been achieved over the last two decades, during which the prevalence of global undernutrition has been reduced from 18.7% to 11.3% (FAO, IFAD & WFP, 2014). Although progress has been made, food insecurity continues to be a formidable challenge. Food security is said to exist when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, allowing them to maintain a healthy and active life (FAO, 2009). In a world currently inhabited by approximately 7.3 billion people, there are more mouths to feed than ever before. An estimated one in every nine people across the globe does not have access to sufficient food to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle (FAO, IFAD & WFP, 2014). Across regions, there are disparities in the prevalence and severity of food insecurity at regional, national and household levels. Developing countries retain the highest prevalence of food insecure households, with around two-thirds of the worlds’ food insecure residing in these regions (FAO, IFAD & WFP, 2014). Latin America and the Caribbean have achieved the best regional reduction in food insecurity over the last two decades (FAO, IFAD & WFP, 2014). While Eastern and South-Eastern Asia have already achieved most of their MDG hunger targets, the prevalence of hunger in Southern Asia has declined at a slower rate. The prevalence of hunger in Northern Africa has been consistently less than 5% over the last two decades while its prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa has ranged from 23%–33% (FAO, IFAD & WFP, 2014). Regionally, the highest prevalence of food insecurity occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2015.05.060
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2015.05.060
