Page 6 - Vol.39-No.1

131 MILLION PEOPLE

IN LATIN AMERICA

AND THE CARIBBEAN

CANNOT ACCESS A

HEALTHY DIET

A new United Nations report finds that 22.5 percent of the
Latin America and the Caribbean population cannot afford a
healthy diet. In the Caribbean this figure reaches 52 percent; in
Mesoamerica, 27.8 percent; and in South America, 18.4 percent.
The Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in Latin
America and the Caribbean reports that 131.3 million people in
the region could not afford a healthy diet in 2020. This represents
an increase of 8 million compared to 2019 and is due to the
higher average daily cost of healthy diets in Latin America and
the Caribbean compared to the rest of the world’s regions – an
average of $3.89 per person per day compared to the global
average of $3.54.In the the Caribbean this reaches a value of
$4.23, followed by South America and Mesoamerica with $3.61
and $3.47, respectively.
This problem is related to different socioeconomic and nutritional
indicators. The report presents a clear relationship between the
inability to afford a healthy diet and such variables as a country’s
income level, the incidence of poverty, and the level of inequality.
The report also reveals that the rise in international food prices
experienced since 2020, exacerbated after the start of the
war in Ukraine, and a regional increase in food inflation above
the general level, have increased the difficulties for people to
access a healthy diet.
The report also includes recommendations based on evidence
and an analysis of policies already implemented to improve the
availability and affordability of nutritious foods, focusing on sup-
porting the most vulnerable people and low-income households
that spend a more significant proportion of their budget on food.
The report is a joint publication of the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO); the International Fund
for Agricultural Development (IFAD); the Pan American Health
Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO); the United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations World
Food Program (WFP).
“There is no individual policy that can solve this problem inde-
pendently. National and regional coordination mechanisms need
to be strengthened to respond to hunger and malnutrition,” said
Mario Lubetkin, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional
Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean.
“To contribute to the affordability of healthy diets, it is necessary
to create incentives for the diversification of the production of
nutritious foods aimed mainly at family farming and small-scale
producers, take measures for the transparency of the prices
of these foods in markets and trade, and actions such as cash
transfers and improving school menus,” Lubetkin added.
Trade and market policies can play a fundamental role in im-
proving food security and nutrition. Greater transparency and
efficiency improve inter-regional agri-food trade by replacing
uncertainty with market predictability and stability.

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