UN report: 33m people in Mena region undernourished

Number of chronically undernourished people has doubled since 1990, report says, largely due to the conflict in Syria.

Residents of Syria’s Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp, south of Damascus, gather to collect food aid. Rami Al Sayed / AFP

DUBAI // Political instability, war and natural disasters have resulted in 33 million people in the Middle East and North Africa being undernourished, according to the United Nations. Experts from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) have issued a report on the state of poverty in the region and state that almost 9 per cent of Mena’s population of about 380 million do not get enough food.

The first Regional Overview of Food Insecurity report shows that the number of chronically undernourished people has doubled since 1990, despite 15 of 19 countries in the region successfully hitting millennium development goals set 25 years ago, including the UAE.

Recent estimates show that the Syrian crisis has left 13.6 million people in critical need of sustained food and agricultural assistance – about 9.8 million in Syria and 3.8 million refugees.

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is also creating food insecurity and one in four people there is undernourished.

Abdessalam Ahmed, FAO assistant director for the Near East and North Africa (Nena), said: “The region as a whole has witnessed a serious setback in its fight against hunger. Conflicts and protracted crises are the main drivers of this.

“The region exhibits the highest number and intensity of conflicts in the world. Over the past few years, 12 Nena countries have witnessed at least one form of instability, including civil unrest, wars or protracted crises.”

FAO experts estimate that half of the 24 million people in Yemen required humanitarian assistance at the start of this year.

In Iraq, the prevalence of undernourishment rose from 8 per cent in 1990 to 1992, to 23 per cent today.

The region is the only one in the world to have its overall prevalence of undernourishment increase from the level it was at a quarter of a century ago.

However, Mr Ahmed said the picture should “not overshadow progresses made by the large majority of countries”.

The UAE was one of the 15 countries to achieve the millennium development goal of halving the proportion of people suffering from undernourishment or keeping it below 5 per cent.

Since aid operations to Yemen from the UAE began, 717.6 metric tonnes have left the country by air and sea. The UAE has donated more than Dh100 million in humanitarian aid to Yemen for those affected by fighting between pro-government forces and Iran-backed Houthi militia.

The aid hub at International Humanitarian City in Dubai is one of the biggest in the world.

Mehdi Drissi, FAO representative in the UAE, said: “Conflict in the region is creating new challenges for humanitarian causes and there is no easy solution. The time has come for all GCC countries to work together to help.”

Demand for aid from the UN for displaced refugees has increased by 35 per cent since 2012, mainly as a result of the Syria conflict.