2024 Global Hunger Index: How Gender Justice Can Advance Climate Resilience and Zero Hunger

FOCUS

Welthungerhilfe and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, Germany, along with Concern Worldwide, Ireland released this report in October 2024. The first Global Hunger Index (GHI) report was published in 2006. This 2024 edition – the 19th in the series – highlights the importance of considering the existing gendered and unequal access to resources while working towards the goals of climate resilience and hunger eradication. It also measures the progress made towards achieving the second of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – ‘Zero Hunger’.

Quoting the Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations, the report states that ‘food deprivation’ or ‘undernourishment’ refers to “the habitual consumption of too few calories to provide the minimum dietary energy an individual requires to live a healthy and productive life, given that person’s sex, age, stature, and physical activity level.”

The 2024 report calculates the GHI for 127 countries on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best score (no hunger) and 100 being the worst. The scores range from ‘low’ (less than or equal to the score of 9.9), ‘moderate’ (10-19.9), ‘serious’ (20-34.9), ‘alarming’ (35-49.9) to ‘extremely alarming’ (greater than or equal to 50). GHI is calculated on the basis of four indicators: ‘undernourishment’ (share of population with insufficient calorie intake), ‘child stunting’ (share of children under the age of five who have low height for their age), ‘child wasting’ (share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height) and ‘child mortality’ (mortality rate of children under the age of five).

The guest essay in this edition by Nitya Rao, Siera Vercillo and Gertrude Dzifa Torvikey examines how climate crisis and food insecurity differentially affects women and sexual minorities

The report uses data collected by various United Nations agencies – including the Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations Children’s Fund, World Health Organization, United Nations Interagency Group for Child Mortality Estimation  – and other organisations such as the World Bank and Demographic and Health Surveys Program.

    FACTOIDS

  1. In 2024, the global GHI was at a moderate score of 18.3, the same as 2023. However, the number conceals widespread regional disparities. Hunger remained a severe concern in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia due to social inequality, climate change, and military conflicts.

  2. The report states that if global hunger reduces at the pace observed since 2016, the world will still not reach low hunger till 2160. In the 2024 report, India was ranked 105 out of 127 countries with a score of 27.3, a slight reduction from the figure of 28.7 recorded in the 2023 index.

  3. In 2024, 51 countries including Belarus, China, Brazil, Iran and Oman had lower GHI scores indicating ‘low’ levels of hunger. Around 36 countries had GHI scores between 20 and 34.9 indicating ‘alarming’ levels of hunger.

  4. Food insecurity severely affects women and child development. Between 2020-2022, in 12 countries that were hit by hunger, the number of acutely malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women increased by 25 per cent. These effects are intergenerational as anaemic mothers are more likely to give birth to low-weight, premature or anaemic infants.

  5. States and territories like Gaza, Sudan, Haiti, Mali and South Sudan are increasingly facing acute food insecurity and starvation due to a number of factors like military conflict and climate crisis.

  6. The report notes that in low- and middle-income countries, rising food prices increase the chances of child wasting and child stunting: a five per cent increase in food prices can increase the risk of child wasting by nine per cent.

  7. Many countries do not have sufficient data to calculate GHI scores due to ongoing conflict or political unrest. However, as these are factors that cause greater food insecurity, it is possible that countries with missing data are often the ones facing greatest danger. For instance, Burundi and South Sudan are both countries that have been provisionally attributed ‘alarming’ but might fall into ‘extremely alarming’ category with adequate data.

  8. As a way forward, the report recommends governments to make structural changes addressing gender and sexual inequalities in access to food and climate resiliency. It also asks government and civil society organisations to enforce the right to food during disasters and conflicts. It emphasises that parties in armed conflict must adhere to humanitarian laws and protect the lives of civilians, eradicating the use of starvation as a weapon of war.


    Focus and Factoids by Gauri Yadav.

AUTHOR

Miriam Wiemers, Marilena Bachmeier, Asja Hanano, Réiseal Ní Chéilleachair, Aimée Vaughan, Connell Foley, Holger Mann, Daniel Weller, Katrin Radtke, Heidi Fritschel, Nitya Rao, SieraVercillo and Gertrude Dzifa Torvikey

COPYRIGHT

Concern Worldwide, Ireland; Welthungerhilfe, Germany; and Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, Germany

PUBLICATION DATE

Oct, 2024

TAGS

#global-hunger #hunger #climate-change #health

SHARE