Kenya is among 53 countries with the largest number of undernourished citizens.
This revelation is contained in the latest UN report, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World: Safeguarding Against Economic Slowdowns and Downturns. It was published on Monday.
The joint document is by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the UN Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization.
It says the number of undernourished people in Kenya stood at 14.6 million (29.4 per cent) between 2016 and 2018. Between 2004 and 2006, 10.2 million (28.2 per cent) were undernourished.
Last year, the number of under-fives affected by wasting was 300,000 (4.2 per cent). In the same category, those affected by stunting reduced to 1.8 million (26.2 per cent). In 2012, 2.3 million (35.5 per cent) had stunted growth.
"Of growing concern is the coexistence of underweight or stunted children with overweight mothers in the same households in various low- and middle-income countries, such as Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya and Peru,” the report states.
“This suggests increasing inequalities in economic and social access to resources.”
The report links stunting and overweight to maternal age at first birth, maternal short stature, family size and socioeconomic status.
The number of under-fives who are overweight remained constant from 2012 to 2018 at 300,000 million. Obesity among those aged 18 and above grew to 1.5 million (six per cent) in 2016 from 1.1 million (4.8 per cent) in 2012.
“Our actions to tackle these troubling trends will have to be bolder, not only in scale but also in terms of multi-sectoral collaboration,” the report says.
It adds that 3.1 million (27.2) women of reproductive age (15-49 years) suffered from anaemia in 2016 compared to 2.8 million (27.5) in 2012.
The number of infants aged five months and below and who were exclusively breastfed grew from 0.4 million in 2012 to 0.9 million in 2018. This marked a 29.5 per cent increase from 31.9 to 61.4 per cent.
There was no change in the number of children born with low birth-weight. The number in 2012 and 2015 remaining at 0.2 million.
“The pace of progress in halving the number of children who are stunted and in reducing the number of babies born with low birth weight is too slow, which also puts the SDG 2 nutrition targets further out of reach,” the report states.
It found that income inequality is rising in many countries where hunger is on the rise, making it even more difficult for the poor, vulnerable or marginalised to cope with economic slowdowns and downturns.
“We must foster pro-poor and inclusive structural transformation focusing on people and placing communities at the centre to reduce economic vulnerabilities and set ourselves on track to ending hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition,” the agencies said.
(Edited by F'Orieny)
