Hunger Rising in Latin America and Caribbean

According to the United Nations, “Tens of millions are going hungry in Latin America and the Caribbean as the Covid-19 pandemic sharpens a regional malnutrition crisis to its worst levels in decades” (CNN, November 30, 2021). From 2019 to 2020, rates of hunger in the region rose by 30 percent. Lockdowns and loss of jobs have limited the ability to obtain food, with women going hungry at greater rates than men. In Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, nearly half the population is in a state of food insecurity. A third of Argentina’s population is hungry, and analysts fear the impact of another round of hyperinflation. Sadly, the flip side of food insecurity is obesity. Lacking access to healthy foods, many hungry families turn to unhealthy alternatives with high amounts of added fat and sugar. Throughout the region, over 100 million people are obese, and the number is increasing.

The COVID-19 crisis is not the only reason for growing hunger. This crisis has been building for years due to many factors, including political instability (Bloomberg, November 30, 2021). In Latin America and the Caribbean, nearly 40 percent of the population—267 million people—experienced moderate to severe food insecurity in 2020 (Al Jazeera, November 30, 2021). Elsewhere in the world, hunger rates are even higher. According to a July 2021 report by Oxfam International, 11 people die every minute from hunger! And “the number of people facing famine-like conditions has increased by six times over the past year.”

These statistics should sober us! Today, many people live with excess even as many more are starving. Many world leaders vie for power and control while their citizens suffer. Thankfully, the Bible foretells a coming time when food insecurity and starvation will be a thing of the past—yet this will not come as a result of human efforts, but with the second coming of Jesus Christ. His return to set up the Kingdom of God on earth will bring an end to suffering. To learn more about this future time of peace and abundance, be sure to watch “Isaiah’s Prophecy of Peace.”