El Pais published an article on the prediction of increased hunger following behind the COVID-19 health crisis. Children, the starkest face of hunger on the African continent has also been the victim of an increasingly present phenomenon: emaciation. Senior Research Fellow Derek Headey states that the pandemic resulted in 6.7 million children under the age of five affected by this pathology. In 2019, there were already about 47 million. But the impact of the coronavirus on disease numbers is just the tip of the iceberg. Headey also expects an increase in other forms of child malnutrition, including stunted growth, nutritional deficiencies and overweight. “The inability of the international community to come up with a solution will have devastating and long-lasting consequences on children, human capital and human resources. national economies.” (See the IFPRI blogpost, COVID-19: The virus will mostly spare young children; the economic crisis will not), Agroportal (Portugal), Sabado (Portugal)
Almost 20 million more people suffer acute hunger after the pandemic in the 13 most affected countries in the world (El Pais)
September 18, 2020