After years of substantial gains against global hunger, last year saw an increase, especially in nine countries.
The United Nations set a goal to eliminate global hunger by 2030, but now theGlobal Hunger Index report estimates that 58 countries will not reach that goal.
The index for 2023 was 18.3, less than one point better than 2015 when the score was 19.1.
The number of undernourished people has climbed to 735 million from 572 million in 2017, according to the report published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerlife.
Nine countries have “alarming” rates of hunger: Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Niger, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. In another 34 the situation is deemed serious.
“The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, climate disasters around the world and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict have combined to stall progress in the fight against hunger,” said the report.
Andy Harrington, executive director of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, said gains were registered in the 36 countries where it provided aid to 1.1 million people.
The federal government gave it $47.2 million towards its total spending of $79.9 million.
Christians donated $21.6 million through the broadest coalition of denominations involved in a single organization in Canada.
Harrington said there was a temporary bump in government funding due to the pandemic, along with a “real outpouring” of support from Canadian citizens.
“In the midst of this global hunger crisis, Canadians stood firm. They were incredibly generous to us.”
