Over the past six months, we have been inundated with information, news reports and analyses of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Not a day goes by without a situation update or without stories of death and heartbreak or without waves of political hype and gymnastics. 

To date, approximately 35.2 million people have been infected and an estimated 1.03 million have died as a result of the pandemic (most likely an underestimate).

There is another pandemic raging too: one that has seen an estimated 6.9 million die in 2020.  In contrast to COVID-19, we already have the cure and we have had it for many, many decades. 

I am referring to the ‘hunger pandemic’ which plagues the lives and deaths of many millions each year.  Or the slow and lingering half-life of those unable to access adequate nutrition on an ongoing basis.  Or the fundamentally compromised lives of those children condemned to permanent disability as a result of a simple twist of fate – being born poor and, as a result hungry.

This is a pandemic which is marked by a dearth of adequate news coverage, of committed political action and leadership and of a threshold of public concern that would demand effective action.  It is also a pandemic that doesn’t command public judgement because it is effectively an ‘us’ and ‘them’ issue. 

The stark reality is that today, 750 million fellow humans are experiencing severe food insecurity - an increase of over 60 million in the last five years.  A staggering two billion people did not have regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food in 2019.  Once again, international promises are not being met. We are not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 as agreed. 

The United Nations estimates that COVID-19 may add between 83 and 132 million people to the total number of undernourished.

All of this at a time when the world has more than enough to feed everyone, where we literally waste at least one-third of the food we produce, and where we have very detailed and accurate information on the issue and where our capacity to respond has never been greater.

This mega-scandal also comes at a time when the world has never been richer.

The causes of this pandemic are clearly understood and have been analysed in detail over the many decades since original promises to tackle hunger were solemnly made. The direct correlations between hunger and poverty, conflict, inequality and environmental vulnerability, for example, have been minutely detailed. 

In this last week, in recognition of its work in tackling world hunger and its direct links to conflict, the UN World Food Programme was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020.  The Nobel Committee noted that providing support that increases food security not only tackles hunger, but also improves the chances for stability and peace.   It also argued that we can never achieve the goal of zero hunger unless we also put an end to war and armed conflict.

Old and tired explanations of hunger, such as overpopulation, have long been proven very wide of the mark. 

Simply put, our international food system is badly broken. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, UN Development Programme and numerous food-focused NGOs have all made that point. The 2020 State of Food Insecurity Report emphasises that our dominant industrialised food system poses health hazards to both humans and the environment (as evidenced by COVID-19). 

In that context, each of us has the opportunity as well as the duty to play our part in challenging current realities.  World Food Day will be marked on October 16 – an opportunity for all to respond positively. 

The most immediate action we should commit to is to simply respect food, its producers and the environment from which it is produced.  This immediately implies the imperative to stop wasting food. There is no excuse for it and it is hugely costly in so many ways. 

Each of us needs to become a food activist by informing ourselves, by making the choice for healthy, diverse and locally produced food.  We also need to engage others in the agenda.   

There are many opportunities to work locally on the issue, through volunteering to assist those in need in our own community or to offer food alternatives.

There is also a need to challenge our dominant industrialised food production and distribution system, with its overwhelming emphasis on meat and all that this implies. We need to learn to challenge the system’s massive advertising and merchandising agendas. There are many effective alternatives healthier for humans and the environment.   

October 16 offers us the chance to be food aware, food smart and food active.