DILI, 18 october 2022 (TATOLI)- United Nation International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) raised a concern about the growing number of people who have been affected by hunger amid the global crisis.
The concern was raised by UNICEF following the celebration of World Food Days, with the theme ‘Leave no one behind to build a better world.
Addressing the event, UNICEF Country Representative, Bilal Aurang Zeb Durrani said, although the world has made progress toward building a better world, too many people have been left behind.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres flagged, yesterday, a staggering figure that the number of people affected by hunger has more than doubled in the past 3 years.
However Timor-Leste has made significant progress over the past decade when addressing zero hunger, with the proportion of hunger poor falling from 46.9% to 34.3%: “While we have more to achieve, we are posed with the challenge of being able to sustain the gains that we have had in the recent two years. Severely impacted by an array of crises – COVID-19, Climate Change, and Conflicts, the food systems of Timor-Leste have been strained significantly. The Consumer Price Inflation in Timor-Leste reached 5.7% in the first quarter of 2022. Further, The World Bank forecasts indicate that this would reach 7% on average in 2022,”Durani said in his remarks at Dili Convention Center Hall.
Prior to the array of crises, the Timor-Leste Food and Nutrition Survey (TLFNS-2020) indicated that 8.6% of children are wasted and 18.8% of Women of Reproductive age are thin (BMI<18.5). The rise in food and fuel prices is likely to impact women and children much more as they tend to have few ‘financial’ resources to fall back on or draw on in times of crisis, exacerbating the already high levels of malnutrition and food insecurity.
Children cannot live on staple grains alone; they need to eat a diverse range of nutritious foods. A recent report on “Child Food Poverty – A Nutrition Crisis in Early Childhood” sounds the alarm that today in low- and middle-income countries, 2 in 3 children under five – or 478 million – experience food poverty. Children living in severe food poverty are among the most vulnerable to undernutrition in early childhood, which can increase children’s risk of death by up to 12 times.
“We are glad to witness that the Government of Timor-Leste is stepping up to address the situation with a few important initiatives such as Bolsa da Mae jerasaun foun and fuel subsidies, especially for agriculture and fishing industries to address the situation,” he said.
To find the alternative solution to these concerns, While UNICEF is implementing these programs, there is also a need to look at long-term solutions including:
- Developing, approving, and implementing transformative policies: the Food Fortification Law, the Breast milk Policy, and the Breast milk Substitute Code, amongst others.
- Implementing a vertical and horizontal expansion of Social Protection Programs and Consolidated National Action Plan for Food Security and Nutrition (CNAP), where Bolsa da Mae and the School Meal Program can help in offsetting rising living costs and worsening malnutrition.
- Combating the drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition for children under 5, adolescents, and mothers, including putting in place systems and initiatives that blunt the impact of food crises on communities across Timor-Leste.
- Ensuring Contingency plans on alternative sources of key commodities, as well as anticipatory measures to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change that might be another hurdle on top of rising agricultural inputs are critical.
- Promoting the production of diversified nutrient-dense foods, and farmers’ access to the market through public-private partnerships is key to supporting the diversification of economic revenues for the Government.
Durrani concluded that finally, as this year’s theme indicates their responsibility to ensure no one is left behind.
“It is our responsibility as Government, UN agencies, and all stakeholders represented here today to ensure that growth is shared equally amongst everyone and benefits everyone, especially the most vulnerable. We need to ensure no one is left behind,” he said.
Journalist: José Belarmino De Sá
Editor: Nelia B.
