Context: Recently, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published its “State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021 report" which provides a grim reminder of impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Food security.
Key highlights of the report

• Study done in 63 low- and middle-income countries covering a population of 3.5 billion on changes in the income of people. It has extrapolated its impact on choice of diets.
• A significant dip found in people’s affordability for healthy food due to a loss in income.
• The pandemic led to an additional 141 million people being unable to afford a healthy diet in the countries studied.
• The primary reason for this is the loss of income. But food price rise has made the situation more acute.
• World hunger increased in 2020 under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. After remaining virtually unchanged for five years, the prevalence of undernourishment increased from 8.4 to around 9.9 percent in just one year, heightening the challenge of achieving the Zero Hunger target by 2030.

By the end of 2020, global consumer food prices were the highest in six years. In the first four months of 2021, they continued to rise.

• In normal times, a healthy diet costs more; at the global level, the cost of a healthy diet in 2019 was $4.04 per person / day (compare it with the international poverty line of $1.90 per day).
• The cost of a healthy diet was 60 per cent more than a diet that just meets “requirements for essential nutrients” and almost five times as much as a diet that just meets “the minimum dietary energy needs through a starchy staple”.
• One in three people in the world couldn’t access adequate food year-round access to adequate food in 2020.

In 2020, 149 million children (under five years of age) will grow up stunted or too short for their age. Some 45 million children have been wasted, or do not have the right weight for their height.  

• Nearly 12 per cent of the global population faced severe levels of food insecurity or they ran out of food and in worst situations, must have a day without food.
• Around 660 million people may still face hunger in 2030 in part due to lasting effects of the pandemic on global food security. 30 million more people than in a scenario in which the pandemic had not occurred.

More than half of the world’s undernourished are found in Asia (418 million) and more than one-third in Africa (282 million).

• Compared with 2019, about 46 million more people in Africa, 57 million more in Asia, and about 14 million more in Latin America and the Caribbean were affected by hunger in 2020.

The burden of malnutrition remains a global challenge

• 22% of children under 5 years of age were affected by stunting, 6.7% were suffering from wasting, and 5.7% were overweight 
• Asia and Africa account for more than 9 out of 10 children with stunting and wasting 
• Healthy diets are unaffordable to many, especially the poor, in every region. 
• 3 billion people are unable to afford a healthy diet. 
• High income inequality contributes to keeping healthy diets out of reach

Healthy diet definition

• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a healthy diet contains a balanced, diverse and appropriate selection of foods eaten over a period of time and it protects against malnutrition in all its forms, including non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.
• Poor diet is a major reason for malnutrition, stunting and wasting among children, obesity, overweight and underweight
• It is also a reason for diet-related non-communicable diseases.
• WHO estimates that poor diets are responsible for 22 per cent of all deaths among adults in the world.
• Recommendations: Solutions which address multiple drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition as well as a systems view are necessary to transform the food system. 

A few suggested from the report: 

• Build resilient and conflict-sensitive food systems
• Keep food supply chains operational during economic slowdowns and downturns while providing adequate support to the livelihoods of the most vulnerable
• Reduce income inequality and empower historically marginalized populations to become agents of change towards more sustainable food systems
• Create context-specific policies, investments and legislation which provide comprehensive approaches to transforming food systems while minimizing trade-offs.