World hunger spiked last year, outpacing population growth and probably reaching the highest since 2005, as the Covid-19 pandemic curbed incomes and access to food, according to the United Nations . As many as 811 million people — about a 10th of the global population — were undernourished in 2020, the UN said in a report on Monday. The agency said it’ll now take a “tremendous" effort for the world to fulfill a pledge to end hunger by 2030, and reiterated a call to transform food systems. Conflict, climate change and economic downturns — the major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition — continue to increase in both frequency and intensity, and are occurring more often in combination. The report — the first global assessment of food insecurity in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis — was jointly produced by agencies including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme, Unicef and World Health Organization.

Source: Mint July 12, 2021 13:52 UTC