The United Nations formula in the Dominican Republic has warned of the desire to incorporate policies that allow people access to healthier food, which can be up to five times more expensive than those that only meet the needs of power.
The burden of nutritious food wants to be reduced to building healthy foods according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 report, jointly developed through six UN agencies: FAO, IFAD, PAHO/WHO, WFP and UNICEF.
According to a press release, the annual report indicates that the points that account for the burden of healthy food are the food chain, production, distribution and policies implemented from public and investment spending.
The note notes that this year’s report focuses primarily on transforming food systems for healthy diets and discusses the burden and accessibility of healthy diets around the world.
It also provides new research on “hidden” prices of fitness and climate replacement related to our existing food intake patterns and savings that would result from switching to healthy diets that come with sustainability considerations.
Guarantees that healthy diets are unaffordable for many people, especially the poor, in all regions.
In the Dominican Republic, 16.0% of the population cannot access healthy nutrition with the source of income they receive, due to their collection of about $4.06 consistent with the child.
The report also proposes policy recommendations for existing food systems in models that contribute to healthy and affordable eating for the entire population. This is very important in efforts to achieve the Zero Hunger Sustainable Progression Goal (SDG-2).
The UN believes that addressing these points will require significant adjustments to food systems. These come with the rebalancing of agricultural policies and food supply chain incentives and social coverage policies for countries to develop the purchasing force of the most vulnerable populations and access healthier food.
“Through this study, we propose research that is helping to outline comprehensive public policy and movements that drive the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. At the same time, we are moving towards an inclusive, resilient and sustainable socio-economic recovery against COVID19,” said UN representative in the country, Mauricio Ramarez Villegas.
This goes hand in hand with task creation policies, i.e. for other young people and rural women. In this sense, it is essential to incorporate inventions and new virtual technologies to develop production and the market for farmers.
“Thousands of circles of family farmers will be greatly affected by their strategies of sources of income, livelihoods and production, so we will have to strive for an immediate economic recovery from the effects of COVID19 on food security and nutrition,” said the FAO Representative in the country. Rodrigo Casta-eda.
Casta-eda presses for the new agricultural schedule to announce public-private partnerships that build the participation of the circle of family farmers in spaces and products where they would possibly have comparative advantages, such as bananas, vegetables, dairy, fruits, bananas, rice, etc. among others.
The representative of the organization appreciated the contribution of feeding programmes to the food safety of the population, which are being developed in the country with the technical assistance of FAO and WFP. And he hopes the new government will continue on this path.
Similarly, the representative of the World Food Programme in the country, Romain Sirois, who “also warns against the accumulation of one of the parts of malnutrition, obesity, which is a serious fitness problem, because it increases the threat of noncommunicable diseases, both in young people and adults”.
There’s one in RD
The report notes that about 690 million other people are hungry, or 8.9% of the world’s population (a buildup of about 10 million other people in a year and about 60 million in five years). At this point, between 82 and 132 million other people may fall into malnutrition by the end of 2020 due to the effects of the COVID19 pandemic.
If recent trends continue, the number of other people affected by hunger will exceed 840 million worldwide by 2030, casting doubt on the achievement of Zero Hunger to that date.
In the Dominican Republic, the malnutrition indicator decreased from 19.3% of the population in 2004 to 5.5% in 2019. These figures translate into 600,000 malnourished Dominicans. However, the effects of the existing pandemic will undermine these numbers, increasing food insecurity.
Another bureaucracy of malnutrition in DR
The UN report shows that negative signs of child nutrition persist in the country, with children under the age of five suffering from acute malnutrition at 2.3% through 2019, while the prevalence of stunting is 10.1%.
Similarly, the percentage of children with birth weight insufficiency is 11.3% in 2019, a slight minimum from 11.4% in 2012.
Exclusive breastfeeding figures among 0- to 5-year-olds remain alarming, with the country registering 8.0% in 2012, the numbers have fallen to 4.6% by 2019.
In addition, the percentage of anaemia among people of childbearing potential continues to increase, from 29.5% in 2012 to 29.7%.
Obesity remains a challenge for children, which in 2012 recorded 8.3%, and for the adult population, which in 2016 had 27.6%, equivalent to 1.9 million people.
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