Latin America shows more progress in reducing hunger than other regions

Latin America and the Caribbean are the regions where efforts to eradicate hunger have made the greatest strides, according to a report released this week by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Children in a Honduras slum.

The proportion of undernourished people in the region fell from 14.7 percent in 1990-1992 to 5.5 percent in 2014-2016, FAO said on Thursday.

A number of countries in the region, including Ecuador, Uruguay and Chile, have eliminated hunger altogether.

In the battle against hunger, Latin America “constitutes an example for the whole world,” said Raul Benitez, FAO’s regional representative.

Besides exceeding the target set in the UN Millennium Development Goals of halving the proportion of the population coping with hunger, Latin America has become the world’s first region to cut in half the number of people suffering chronic malnutrition.

The FAO report shows that despite these advances, 34.3 million residents of the region remain undernourished. It means that it is necessary “to up the ante and strive not just for a reduction, but for the total eradication of hunger”.

The progress against hunger in the region reflects a positive macroeconomic situation over the past two decades and governments’ solid and continuing political commitment to the issue, the report said.