This article explain how the people who are inability of those already on the brink of subsistence to absorb a second economic shock cannot be overlooked.
Analysing the continuing pandemic impact on rising food insecurity in India.
The coronavirus pandemic has sparked not only a health crisis but also an economic crisis, which together pose a serious threat to food security, particularly in poorer countries.
We are analysing on how the global pandemic is affecting global poverty and food security and nutrition, food trade and supply chains, gender, employment, and a variety of policy interventions, as well as reflections on how we can use these lessons to better prepare for future pandemics.
These pieces draw on a combination of conceptual arguments, global and country-level simulation models, in-country surveys, case studies, and expert opinions. Together, we present a comprehensive picture of the current and potential impact of COVID-19 and the world’s policy responses on global food and nutrition security.
COVID-19 has severely disrupted our lives, jeopardized the well-being of billions of people, and raised the specter of a global food crisis, all in just a few months. The huge impact expected on the world’s economy and on global food security has been described in dramatic terms. The World Bank forecasts that the global economy will shrink by more than 5%, which would be the deepest recession since the Second World War.
researchers estimate that, in the absence of strong interventions in developing countries, the number of people in extreme poverty could increase by up to 150 million.
The World Food Programme’s executive director, David Beasley, has warned that the world is “not only facing a global health pandemic but also a global humanitarian catastrophe,” and that, without action, COVID-19 could lead to “multiple famines of biblical proportions.” Lawrence Haddad, executive director of GAIN, lamented that the coming food and nutrition crisis is not only biblical but “on steroids, and across generations.
POVERTY AND FOOD SECURITY GOING DRAMATICALLY AS COVID-19 SPREADS
With COVID-19 and its economic fallout now spreading in the poorest parts of the world, many more people will become poor and food-insecure. In a new scenario analysis, we estimate that globally, absent interventions, over 140 million people could fall into extreme poverty (measured against the $1.90 poverty line) in 2020 — an increase of 20% from present levels. This in turn would drive up food insecurity. A global health crisis could thus cause a major food crisis — unless steps are taken to provide unprecedented economic emergency relief.
IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE, FOOD SECURITY AND LIVLIHOOD OF INDIA
India has taken early action to limit the spread of COVID-19, ordering a 21-day nationwide lockdown for its population of 1.3 billion people starting March 25,2020.
Subsequently the lockdown was renewed three more times before May 31,2020. The unlocking of India began June 1, except in containment zones.
The novel coronavirus has spread widely in India and the number of reported infections is 217,000, with relatively few deaths, at 6,075, as of June 4. However, as COVID-19 cases are increasing fast, there is great concern about the disease’s potential spread and impact.
India has to be ready for a possible surge. The government views the pattern of the spread of COVID-19 as similar to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, meaning the spread is unlikely to be uniform. It is concentrated in a few big cities and states and its spread is less in rural areas and smaller towns and cities.
NUTRITION CRISIS
The COVID-19 pandemic has all the makings of a perfect storm for global malnutrition.
The crisis will damage the nutritional status of vulnerable groups through multiple mechanisms.
We can expect a dangerous decline in dietary quality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) stemming from the income losses related to government-mandated shutdowns and de-globalization, as well as from the freezing of food transfer schemes such as school feeding programs and the breakdown of food markets due to both demand shocks and supply constraints. But malnutrition will also increase due to healthcare failures, as already strained healthcare systems are forced to divert resources from a range of nutritionally important functions — including antenatal care, immunization, micronutrient supplementation, and prevention and treatment of childhood Diarrhea, infections, and acute malnutrition — toward combating COVID-19.
CONCLUSION
With a devasting one-two punch, a supply shock followed by a demand shock, the COVID-19 pandemic has knocked out the world economy. The first blow was the Great Lockdown; the second, the worst recession since the Great Depression. No modern economy has experienced anything like this. As the spread of the novel coronavirus debilitates people’s ability to harvest and buy and sell food, food systems are under threat as never before.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.
We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world.
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Inspirational Women – Maharani Jinda – 1 – Aishwarya Sandeep
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