Failing to end hunger

The 2017 Global Hunger Index tracks the state of hunger worldwide, spotlighting those places where action to address hunger is most urgently needed.

8 men possess as much as half of all the planet’s wealth. Iinequality is a key feature of capitalism. Iit will take women 170 years to be paid as me.

 A new study reveals that there is also a widening gap in hunger. In fact, the 2017 Global Hunger Index (GHI) states that despite years of progress, food security is still under threat. And that conflict and climate change are hitting the poorest people the hardest and effectively pitching parts of the world into “perpetual crisis.”

Although it has been said that “hunger does not discriminate,” it does, says the 2017 Global Hunger Index, jointly published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe.

According to this study, hunger emerges most persistently among populations that are already vulnerable and disadvantaged. Hunger and inequality are inextricably linked, it warns. The GHI provides some examples–women and girls comprise 60 per cent of the world’s hungry, often the result of deeply rooted social structures that deny women access to education, healthcare, and resources. Likewise, ethnic minorities are often victims of discrimination and experience greater levels of poverty and hunger, it says, adding that most closely tied to hunger, perhaps, is poverty, the clearest manifestation of societal inequality. Three-quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas, where hunger is typically higher.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals, promised to eradicate hunger and reduce inequality by 2030.  

“Yet the world is still not on track to reach this target. Inequality takes many forms, and understanding how it leads to or exacerbates hunger is not always straightforward.”

While the world has committed to reaching Zero Hunger by 2030, the fact that over 20 million people are currently at risk of famine shows how far we are from realising this vision. Central African Republic (CAR) made no progress in reducing hunger over the past 17 years—its GHI score from 2000 is the same as in 2017