In just one year — from 2019 to 2020 — the number of people living with hunger in the region rose by 30%, or 13.8 million people, a new United Nations Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition report said.
While the coronavirus poses its own health threat, the pandemic’s economic fallout has also meant empty cupboards. Months of lockdowns and travel restrictions hit informal jobs in particular, in a region where missing work one day can mean having little to eat the next.
Women are going hungrier than men across the region, the UN found, as food insecurity disproportionately affects the most vulnerable people in society.
In 2020, approximately 42% of women experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, compared with 32% of men. That disparity has consistently widened in recent years, the report said, with a spike from 6.4% to 9.6% in the first year of the pandemic.
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