Hunger and malnutrition have reached critical levels in the Arab region as access to basic foods has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, according to this United Nations report.

This is the fifth edition of the Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition annual report.

This report presents the latest updates related to food security and nutrition in Europe and Central Asia, including estimates on the cost and affordability of healthy diets.

The number of pregnant and breastfeeding adolescent girls and women suffering from acute malnutrition has soared from 5.5 million to 6.9 million – or 25 per cent – since 2020 in 12 countries hardest hit by the global food and nutrition crisis, according to this new report by the UNICEF.

Only 47% of hunger funding needs through the UN humanitarian system are met, leaving a hunger funding gap of 53%, according to the Action Against Hunger 2023 Hunger Funding Gap Report.

In drought affected areas of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, 22 million people are acutely food insecure and 5.1 million children are acutely malnourished.

Regional Overview present the regional food security and nutrition situation, including trends of undernourishment, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition, together with other indicators that could help the understanding of the causes of hunger and malnutrition.

Poor diets and malnutrition in all its forms are among the greatest global social challenges of our time.

This publication provides key highlights and takeaways from the Asia-Pacific Rural Development and Food Security Forum 2022 on four main areas: sustainable, resilient, and inclusive food systems; financing for sustainable agriculture and natural capital; nutrition security; and the rural–urban divide.

This paper starts from an empirical observation that levels of hunger or food insecurity in middle-income and high-income countries are often higher than might be expected, and in some cases are rising rather than falling in recent years.