COVID-19 & FOOD SECURITY

About

Since 2015, the Hungry Cities Partnership (HCP) has been researching the links between rapid urbanization and food insecurity in cities of the Global South (Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Caribbean). Our findings can be consulted elsewhere on this site ( https://hungrycities.net/publications/). The COVID-19 crisis is likely to have deep and lasting impacts on the food security of the over 800 million undernourished and food insecure people who live in the South, impacting food supply chains and those who work in them, reducing the amount and access to food in cities, overburdening fragile and under-resourced health systems, and increasing under-nutrition amongst vulnerable populations. In addition, policy responses to the epidemic (including states of emergency, quarantine, stay-at-home orders, border closures and travel bans) will have unanticipated consequences for the food security of millions. This COVD-19 and Food Security Observatory is designed to provide up-to-date information on the progress of the pandemic in the Global South and, as it becomes available, information and commentary on the food security consequences for people in the Global South.

COVID-19

Daily updates on the spread of COVID-19 (by country) in the South are available at:

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports/

Food Security

On the prevalence of global food insecurity prior to the COVID-19 outbreak see:

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2019.

Images from this report are reproduced below and provide a broad picture of the global and regional distribution of food insecurity, and therefore the areas most likely to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: FAO, State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, p.20.

 

Source: FAO, State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, p.9.

 

Source: FAO, State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, p.15.