About 6.5 million Venezuelans are starving, according to UN

Around 6.5 million people are hungry in Venezuela, according to the report “Regional Panorama of Food and Nutritional Security in Latin America 2022”, prepared by several United Nations agencies and published this Wednesday.

“In South America, Venezuela had the highest prevalence of undernourishment (22.9%), which in absolute numbers is equivalent to 6.5 million people,” says the document, which uses estimates of averages for the years 2020 and 2021.

“A look at hunger trends in the countries of the region shows that hunger increased significantly in Venezuela, by 18.4 percentage points, i.e. 5 million more hungry people between the periods 2013-2015 and 2019-2021”, adds.

The study also reveals that 4.1% of children under 5 years of age in Venezuela suffer from acute malnutrition, “a life-threatening condition” for babies which is “caused by insufficient intake of energy and nutrients, malabsorption of energy and nutrients or frequent or prolonged illness”.

“Wasting or acute malnutrition is one of the most critical forms of malnutrition in early childhood, as it is associated with a high risk of mortality if cases are not properly identified and treated in a timely manner”, completes the document.

The report was prepared by the United Nations agencies for health (WHO), food and agriculture (FAO), children (Unicef), agricultural development (IFAD) and the World Food Program (WFP).

With information from EFE/Gazeta do Povo