TEHRAN – Some 450 food packages donated by the UN World Food Program have been distributed among the needy people of Sistan-Baluchestan province, the director of the provincial Red Crescent Society, has said.

The scheme was implemented in order to help the livelihood of low-income families affected by coronavirus pandemic in Nimroz, Chabahar, and Zabol cities, IRNA quoted Alireza Mirbahaoddin as saying on Wednesday.

Food items included rice, oil, tea, canned beans, tuna, pinto beans, lentils, sugar, and salt, he noted.

Hunger increases worldwide

A report jointly prepared by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, and WHO shows that currently around 690 million people or 8.9 percent of the world population are hungry. Compared to the previous figures, this number is up by 10 million people in one year and by nearly 60 million in five years.

“The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020” also indicates that the number of people affected by severe food insecurity has experienced a similar upward trend over the last five years. In 2019, close to 750 million—or nearly one in ten people in the world—were exposed to severe levels of food insecurity.

The figures reveal that about 2 billion people in the world did not have regular access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food in 2019.

Considering the widespread impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is estimated that the pandemic may add between 83 and 132 million people to the total number of undernourished in the world in 2020 depending on the economic growth scenario.

While the burden of malnutrition in all its forms remains a challenge for the world, current estimates reveal that in 2019, 21.3 percent (144 million) of children under 5 years of age were stunted, 6.9 percent (47 million) wasted, and 5.6 percent (38.3 million) overweight.

FB/MG