Globally, food security and nutrition status are deteriorating at an alarming rate. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has impacted global and national economies, disrupted food systems, and threatened livelihoods of people around the world, with devastating impacts on the food security of families and individuals. The United Nations (UN) estimates that between 720 and 811 million people faced hunger in 2020 – this is 161 million more people than in 2019.1 More than one in ten people, around 928 million, or about 12% of the global population faced food insecurity in 2020. This is 148 million more than in 2019 – an unprecedented increase equal to the total increase in the numbers of food insecure people across all the previous five years combined.2 In June 2021, the UN warned that 41 million people across 43 countries are at the “edge of famine” and declared that famine is already present in Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen.3
Many of today's food crises are linked to violent conflicts, in so far as conflicts often result in disruption of agricultural and other food production, supply chains and markets, as well as dependency on humanitarian food aid. The number of people affected by conflict-driven food crises increased from 74 million in 2018 to more than 77 million one year later, across 22 countries – particularly in north-eastern Nigeria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.4 Food insecurity has intensified in some of these settings during COVID-19, as movement restrictions have made it difficult for humanitarian assistance to reach refugees and internally displaced persons (IPDs).5
The global rise in food insecurity has disproportionately affected women: whereas the prevalence of moderate to severe food insecurity was 6% higher in women than men in 2019, it was 10% higher in women than men in 2020.6 Food insecurity is not only affecting women disproportionately, but has a range of gendered impacts, including well-established links to gender-based violence (GBV).7