Forecast 2020: Financial meltdown and malnutrition

In the aftermath of the recent global food crisis and economic downturn, the world’s poor face unparalleled challenges to their food and nutrition security. While increased volatility in food prices will likely continue, wages for unskilled labour are failing to keep pace. Meanwhile, the financial crisis has pushed up unemployment and further reduced the purchasing power of poor people, who in a globalized economy now feel the effects of economic shocks more acutely. The crisis has also limited the funds available for social protection, which are essential for protecting the most vulnerable people from malnourishment. Under these circumstances health expenditures are often unaffordable. Because poor people in developing countries spend between 50 to 70 per cent of their income on food, they have little capacity to adapt, and their health is being sacrificed as a result.