Latest
Speech
22 May 2023
UN Guyana Statement on the fire at the Mahdia Secondary School Dormitory
Learn more
Story
22 May 2023
UN Guyana Statement on the fire at the Mahdia Secondary School Dormitory
Learn more
Story
20 May 2023
Guyana to host the 12th ILO Meeting of Caribbean Ministers of Labour
Learn more
Latest
The Sustainable Development Goals in Guyana
The Sustainable Development Goals are a global call to action to end poverty, protect the earth's environment, and ensure that people everywhere can enjoy peace and prosperity.
Kindly note that the data visualizations show an aggregate of the Caribbean. To view the disaggregated data for Guyana, please select it from the dropdown menu.
Story
22 May 2023
UN Guyana Statement on the fire at the Mahdia Secondary School Dormitory
19 children died and several others were injured, some of whom were air-dashed to Georgetown for medical attention.
We send our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured speedy recoveries.
The United Nations is fully committed to supporting the national response. We are in close contact with the Office of the Prime Minister and stand ready to provide assistance.
1 of 5

Story
20 May 2023
Guyana to host the 12th ILO Meeting of Caribbean Ministers of Labour
The International Labour Organization's (ILO), Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour in Guyana, will host the Twelfth Subregional ILO Meeting of Caribbean Labour Ministers from 23-25 May 2023 in Georgetown, Guyana.
This Meeting will include the participation of Ministers of Labour and senior officials from thirteen ILO member States and nine non-metropolitan territories in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. Representatives from regional workers’ organizations and employers’ organizations will also be in attendance.
The three-day meeting will provide a forum for participating Caribbean world of work leaders to:
exchange perspectives on the global, regional, and national actions required to accelerate the mainstreaming of social justice for transformative socio-economic development in the current multi-crisis context;
address labour migration as a potential enabler of decent work and acceleration factor in Caribbean development, including the importance of systemic, rights-based, inclusive approaches, to addressing governance challenges in a hyper-mobile region; and
examine Caribbean progress on Just Transition policy and institutional mechanisms and determine priorities for action and ILO technical assistance for the 2024-25 biennium.
The opening ceremony of the Twelfth Subregional ILO Meeting of Caribbean Labour Ministers will take place on Tuesday 23 May between 9.00-10.30 AM at the Grand Ballroom of the Guyana Marriott Hotel, Georgetown, Guyana.
Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director-General of the International Labour Organization, will attend the opening ceremony virtually to deliver feature remarks.
Other speakers include:
His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana
The Honourable Joseph Hamilton, Minister of Labour, Guyana
Ms. Claudia Coenjaerts, Director, ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean
Mr. Dennis Zulu, Director of the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean
1 of 5
Story
18 May 2023
UN reiterates commitment to support Guyana's Ethnic Relations Commission
United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator Yeşim Oruç, welcomed the new members of Guyana’s Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) at the UN House on 15 May, 2023. Joined by representatives of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Ms. Oruç underlined the criticality of the ERC’s functions, especially in the context of Guyana’s rapid economic growth.
Drawing parallels between the peace, development and human rights pillars of the UN and the mandate of the ERC, the UN Resident Coordinator availed of the partnership and resources of the UN system to the ERC. Recalling past cooperation with the UN, the ERC chair and members discussed issues such as media monitoring, safe spaces for dialogue and peace education.
The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) is a Constitutional body established by Article 212 of the Constitution of Guyana. Article 212D outlines twenty-four functions of the ERC which can be grouped into four categories: investigative, conflict resolution, education and public awareness and research and development of strategies.
1 of 5
Story
17 May 2023
UN Chief visits Jamaica, pledges solidarity on regional priorities
The UN chief expressed his “deep solidarity” with Jamaica and all other Small Island Developing States on Monday, outlining what he termed the “moral, power and practical problems” that are preventing the current dysfunctional international financial system from supporting fair and sustainable development.
“We are determined to do our best to correct it and this is the reason of my visit”, Secretary-General António Guterres said at a joint press conference, with the Jamaican Prime Minister, Andrew Holness.
Mr. Guterres also said they had discussed the “tragic situation” in Haiti, that was one of the biggest political challenges facing the whole Caribbean region, praising Jamaica’s involvement in seeking urgent solutions to the crisis there, along with the regional intergovernmental bloc of 15 Member States, CARICOM.
Peaceful invasion
He paid tribute to Jamaica’s ability “to invade peacefully the whole world, with its culture, its music, and its art” over recent decades, proving that diversity in the post-colonial era, can be a “richness, not a threat”, as long as the right policies are adopted.
“We are today facing - when we look at the present international financial architecture - a moral problem, a power problem, and a practical problem”, said the UN chief.
On the moral dimension, he reminded that COVID-19 vaccine development, distribution and recovery, had been dominated by the richer countries, who could print money, while developing countries could not.
He recalled the huge global liquidity problem where skewed international rules meant that injustices were institutionalised, with the least developed countries left to the mercy of borrowing and debt mechanisms, that are outdated and unfair.
Climate frontline
“Small island developing states in particular, have a high level of vulnerability because of the structure of their economies because of their geographic location, their size and because of the enormous impact they suffer in relation to climate change.”
Secondly, he pointed to the old power structures created as World War Two came to an end, at Breton Woods, when countries like Jamaica were still British colonies, without a voice, along with much of Africa.
“And obviously, the structure of what was created, with smaller limitations during the last decades, reflects the power relations that existed after the Second World War. They are outdated and so, the system is unfair and dysfunctional. The system needs reform, to adapt it to the realities of today's global economy.”
And now, he added, there are numerous practical challenges to sustainable and fair development:
“And much more can be done in relation to a better link between climate and finance and the stronger support to adaptation in particular, and in particular, in small island developing states.
Fixing a broken system
A lot more can be done in multiplying the effect of the work of multilateral development banks, if they change their business model - a new approach to risk - and they are able to use their resources to leverage massive access to private finance at reasonable costs for developing countries.”
The UN chief said he would be addressing the G7 this week and the G20, when it next meets, “and insist” that these moral, power and practical dimensions, are properly addressed.
He described Mr. Holness and as champion, “in relation to climate action, and a champion in relation to an effective reformed multilateral financial architecture in the world.”
Salvaging a future for Haiti
On Haiti, Mr. Guterres said the multiple crises of gang violence, a paralysed political system, humanitarian suffering, and rampant insecurity, demand “a much stronger commitment by the international community.”
He reminded of his proposal to the Security Council, which has not yet been taken up, for “an international robust police force to crack down on the gangs, and in parallel with a political process, to create the conditions for a team to be able to address its dramatic situation.”
Jamaica had committed to the idea rapidly, he said, and along with CARICOM, is invested in trying to bring Haiti’s stakeholders together, to find a way forward.
“I want to express my full support to the initiatives of Jamaica and CARICOM. And I want to once again, ask the international community to understand that an effective solidarity with Haiti is not only a matter of generosity, it is essentially a matter of enlightened self-interest. Because the present situation in Haiti reflects a threat to the security of the whole region and further afield.”
This story was first published to UN News and can be viewed here.
1 of 5
Story
17 May 2023
Supporting students and teachers to take a proactive approach to ending gender-based violence
‘A safe space’
Lata Devie Jagmohan is passionate about ending gender-based violence (GBV), having seen the impact it has on survivors and communities first-hand.
She is currently an Orientation and Mobility Officer for people who are blind or visually impaired and shared that she was eager to register for the “Resilience against and Disruption of Gender-Based Violence” (GBV) introductory course.
The course was launched by the University of Guyana (UG) in September 2022 and was developed in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) under the Spotlight Initiative to help service providers, policymakers and others who lead GBV interventions to address cases more efficiently and to strengthen reporting.
As a member of the Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities (GCOPD), Lata Devie - who is also visually impaired- had participated in similar programmes in the past, but she says this course was like no other. “This one was different; it was information based on interaction and experience which students in the class participated in. It was a safe space, and everyone was comfortable sharing.” The second-year UG student is studying to become a social worker and found the course useful in preparing her for her future career. “It was well conceptualized and had a lot of information that was new to me,” she shared.
'A well-rounded course'
Gordon Bishop says that as a teacher, he was impressed by the historical and recent statistical data on GBV provided during class sessions, particularly for the Caribbean region and Guyana.
He appreciated the fact that the course allowed former UG Social Work graduates to share their knowledge of the sector; that it included timely course evaluations to help plan effective GBV programmes that address current needs and issues; and that it allowed students to share their experiences with GBV and receive assistance.
“I'll use the knowledge I received in this course to raise awareness among parents, kids, and instructors in the classroom where I work,” he stated, adding that he will also take advantage of any opportunities to help students and coworkers who may be suffering from GBV. “As a future social worker, I will use the information from this course as needed to help clients who are dealing with the psychological, physical, and emotional effects of GBV.”
‘Forward approach’
Kalina Bulkhan, a second-year Bachelor of Laws student at UG, says the course was “extremely forward in its approach to not just ask us to look at the problem of GBV as it currently exists, but how to tangibly and realistically create a future where we could educate Guyanese on how to improve gender relations and support female empowerment.”
She is hoping that the course can be offered more broadly across Guyana, not just to university students, but also to primary and secondary students, social clubs, in workplaces, during pre- and post-natal care for mothers – “any and everywhere that it can be offered.”
Since the end of the course, Bulkhan is in a better position to offer advice to others and inform them of the options for help available to them. "I have no doubt that these experiences are only the beginning of us moving to disrupt the cycles of violence that have existed for far too long,” she said. “I can confidently say that since the end of this course, myself and several other students have been able to advise the women and men in our lives of the many options for help available to them, and this effect will only multiply as time passes.”
During the course, emphasis was placed on the relationship between GBV and gender power relations, gender roles and norms, and how socioeconomic, cultural and religious factors impact the causes and consequences of GBV. Students were also exposed to global and regional issues related to GBV while gaining a unique local overview of national interventions and learning about the importance of social change strategies toward ending GBV.
By Jasmaine Payne
1 of 5

Press Release
20 May 2023
Guyana to host the 12th ILO Meeting of Caribbean Ministers of Labour
The International Labour Organization's (ILO), Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour in Guyana, will host the Twelfth Subregional ILO Meeting of Caribbean Labour Ministers from 23-25 May 2023 in Georgetown, Guyana.
This Meeting will include the participation of Ministers of Labour and senior officials from thirteen ILO member States and nine non-metropolitan territories in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. Representatives from regional workers’ organizations and employers’ organizations will also be in attendance.
The three-day meeting will provide a forum for participating Caribbean world of work leaders to: exchange perspectives on the global, regional, and national actions required to accelerate the mainstreaming of social justice for transformative socio-economic development in the current multi-crisis context; address labour migration as a potential enabler of decent work and acceleration factor in Caribbean development, including the importance of systemic, rights-based, inclusive approaches, to addressing governance challenges in a hyper-mobile region; and examine Caribbean progress on Just Transition policy and institutional mechanisms and determine priorities for action and ILO technical assistance for the 2024-25 biennium. The opening ceremony of the Twelfth Subregional ILO Meeting of Caribbean Labour Ministers will take place on Tuesday 23 May between 9.00-10.30 AM at the Grand Ballroom of the Guyana Marriott Hotel, Georgetown, Guyana.
Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director-General of the International Labour Organization, will attend the opening ceremony virtually to deliver feature remarks.
Other speakers include: His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana The Honourable Joseph Hamilton, Minister of Labour, Guyana Ms. Claudia Coenjaerts, Director, ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean Mr. Dennis Zulu, Director of the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean Local media in Guyana: Accredited local media (in Guyana) will be provided with access to the 12th Caribbean Labour Ministers’ Meeting opening ceremony and press conference on 23 May 2023, as well as a post-closing press conference on 25 May 2023.
The application form for local accreditation is available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VDZQBK9 and must be completed and submitted by 19 May 2023. Further instructions for media will be provided upon accreditation.
Regional media - virtual attendance Regional media are invited to attend the 12th Caribbean Labour Ministers’ Meeting opening ceremony and press conference virtually by registering at Opening Ceremony / Press Conference Registration - Zoom . Once registered, further details will be provided on how to attend.
###
Media contact:
Shireen Cuthbert
ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean
cuthbert@ilo.org
This Meeting will include the participation of Ministers of Labour and senior officials from thirteen ILO member States and nine non-metropolitan territories in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. Representatives from regional workers’ organizations and employers’ organizations will also be in attendance.
The three-day meeting will provide a forum for participating Caribbean world of work leaders to: exchange perspectives on the global, regional, and national actions required to accelerate the mainstreaming of social justice for transformative socio-economic development in the current multi-crisis context; address labour migration as a potential enabler of decent work and acceleration factor in Caribbean development, including the importance of systemic, rights-based, inclusive approaches, to addressing governance challenges in a hyper-mobile region; and examine Caribbean progress on Just Transition policy and institutional mechanisms and determine priorities for action and ILO technical assistance for the 2024-25 biennium. The opening ceremony of the Twelfth Subregional ILO Meeting of Caribbean Labour Ministers will take place on Tuesday 23 May between 9.00-10.30 AM at the Grand Ballroom of the Guyana Marriott Hotel, Georgetown, Guyana.
Mr. Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director-General of the International Labour Organization, will attend the opening ceremony virtually to deliver feature remarks.
Other speakers include: His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana The Honourable Joseph Hamilton, Minister of Labour, Guyana Ms. Claudia Coenjaerts, Director, ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean Mr. Dennis Zulu, Director of the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean Local media in Guyana: Accredited local media (in Guyana) will be provided with access to the 12th Caribbean Labour Ministers’ Meeting opening ceremony and press conference on 23 May 2023, as well as a post-closing press conference on 25 May 2023.
The application form for local accreditation is available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VDZQBK9 and must be completed and submitted by 19 May 2023. Further instructions for media will be provided upon accreditation.
Regional media - virtual attendance Regional media are invited to attend the 12th Caribbean Labour Ministers’ Meeting opening ceremony and press conference virtually by registering at Opening Ceremony / Press Conference Registration - Zoom . Once registered, further details will be provided on how to attend.
###
Media contact:
Shireen Cuthbert
ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean
cuthbert@ilo.org
1 of 5
Press Release
18 April 2023
The Region’s Countries Will Meet at ECLAC to Evaluate Progress on Fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
The sixth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development – where authorities and representatives of governments, the United Nations System, international organizations, the private sector, academia and civil society will review the progress and challenges related to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the region – will take place on April 25-28 at ECLAC’s headquarters in Santiago, Chile.
The regional forum – which has been held annually since 2017 – aims to provide those responsible for implementing the 2030 Agenda in countries with a space conducive to peer learning through a set of interactive sessions in which, by discussing experiences and shared goals, they can identify good practices, enabling the Forum’s member countries to offer recommendations and present them to the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). The HLPF is the global mechanism for follow-up on the 2030 Agenda, and it meets each year in July in New York under the auspices of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
This sixth intergovernmental meeting will be inaugurated on Wednesday, April 26 at 8:30 a.m. local time in Santiago, Chile (GMT-4) by Santiago Cafiero, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina, the country that is serving as Chair of ECLAC in the 2022-2024 biennium; Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations; Paula Narváez, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations, in her capacity as Vice President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); and José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
It will be preceded on Tuesday, April 25 by a meeting of the mechanism for civil society participation in the Sustainable Development Agenda and in the Forum, and by a gathering of the Regional Collaborative Platform for Latin America and the Caribbean.
In the framework of the Forum, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs will present a document entitled “Halfway to 2030 in Latin America and the Caribbean: progress and recommendations for acceleration,” the sixth report on regional progress and challenges in relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which has been prepared by the Secretariat (held by ECLAC) and which analyzes the evolution and current state of progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6, 7, 9, 11 and 17, along with projections for their fulfillment by 2030.
The meeting contemplates statements by Latin American and Caribbean country representatives at two sessions entitled “Accelerating the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels” and “Strategies to advance implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Caribbean.”
In addition, five panel discussions have been organized in which the Forum’s member countries and other actors will be able to present and share their experiences and challenges in relation to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the following areas: Clean water and sanitation (SDG 6); Affordable and clean energy (SDG 7); Industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9); Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11); and Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17).
Finally, on Friday, April 28, a high-level roundtable will take place under the theme of “Path to the SDG Summit. Transformative initiatives: creating opportunities to strengthen commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its full implementation at all levels,” where prominent figures and authorities from the region will debate transformative initiatives for confronting global challenges and creating opportunities to bolster the commitment to the 2030 Agenda and accelerate its full implementation, in view of the Summit on the Sustainable Development Goals (to be held on September 19-20, 2023 in the framework of the UN General Assembly’s high-level segment).
The full programme of the sixth meeting of the Forum is available at the event’s special website: https://foroalc2030.cepal.org/2023/en
Journalists and other members of the press who want to attend this event in person must register using this form: https://eventos.cepal.org/event/102/. They will receive an automated email response once their registration has been accepted.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Submitting the registration form is a prerequisite for attending the meeting in person, but it does NOT guarantee access to the event. Local organizers can restrict entry, if need be, due to attendance capacity restrictions or for security or other reasons arising at the time. We thank you in advance for your understanding and respect for these conditions.
The event’s official activities can be followed live online via the meeting’s website, ECLAC’s official Internet portal www.cepal.org, the web page https://live.cepal.org/ and the Commission’s institutional accounts on Twitter (https://twitter.com/cepal_onu) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/cepal.onu).
What: Sixth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development.
When: Tuesday, April 25 to Friday, April 28, 2023.
Who:
Inauguration, Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. local time in Chile (GMT -4):
Santiago Cafiero, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina.
Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Paula Narváez, Vice President of ECOSOC and Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations.
José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of ECLAC.
Where: Virtual connection via several platforms:
Meeting website https://foroalc2030.cepal.org/2023/en
ECLAC’s website www.cepal.org
Web page https://live.cepal.org/
Official account on Twitter https://twitter.com/cepal_onu
Official account on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cepal.onu
For queries related to journalistic coverage of this event, contact ECLAC’s Public Information Unit in Santiago, Chile. Email: prensa@cepal.org; Telephone: (56) 22210 2040.
1 of 5
Press Release
17 March 2023
Guyana Activates World Bank Financing to Reduce Flooding in Georgetown
Much of Guyana’s economic activity, especially agriculture, is concentrated in low-lying areas and 90% of the country’s population live on a coastal plain which lies below sea level. The impact of rising sea levels and intensified storm surges in Guyana could exceed 46.4 percent in Gross Domestic Product losses. Despite extensive urban and rural drainage, Georgetown’s system is frequently overwhelmed, resulting in severe flooding which causes damage to infrastructure, and disrupts urban activities, hampering the prosperity and wellbeing of affected communities.
“The World Bank is pleased to support Guyana, as the country seeks to build its climate resilience”, said Diletta Doretti, World Bank’s Resident Representative for Guyana. “Flooding not only has negative impacts on lives and livelihoods but can also impact health, due to communicable diseases”, Ms. Doretti added. The World Bank official further commended the Government of Guyana for awarding the contracts to local companies.
The interventions financed under these contracts will reduce flood levels in two catchment areas, and include replacement of existing pumps, additional pumping capacity, rehabilitation of the sluice gates at Ogle, and two mobile pumps, also at Ogle. Further, the Flood Risk Management Project supports upgrading critical sections of the East Demerara Water Conservancy Dams, and institutional strengthening for flood risk reduction while also facilitating project management and implementation support, through local agencies and institutions.
Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. Zulfikar Mustapha highlighted the necessity to improve the drainage systems across the country as they impact development outcomes. He said, “as we are improving the flood risk management of our country, we are seeing more development especially in the agriculture sector. This project will help the entire eastern part of Region Four which will contribute to the ease of flooding in these areas.”
The Bank and the Government of Guyana expressed their mutual commitment to improving flood risk management, during the signing event for contractors.
Contacts:
In the Caribbean: Penny Bowen, pbowen@worldbankgroup.org
Learn more about the work of the World Bank in the Caribbean: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/caribbean
Be updated via Twitter: https://twitter.com/WBCaribbean
Be updated via Twitter: https://twitter.com/WBCaribbean
1 of 5
Press Release
24 January 2023
UN Report: 131 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean cannot access a healthy diet
January 18, 2022, Santiago, Chile. The new United Nations report Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022 finds that 22.5% of the Latin America and the Caribbean population cannot afford a healthy diet. In the Caribbean this figure reaches 52%; in Mesoamerica, 27.8%; and in South America, 18.4%.
The publication reports that 131.3 million people in the region could not afford a healthy diet in 2020. This represents an increase of 8 million compared to 2019 and is due to the higher average daily cost of healthy diets in Latin America and the Caribbean compared to the rest of the world's regions, reaching in the Caribbean a value of USD 4.23, followed by South America and Mesoamerica with USD 3.61 and USD 3.47, respectively.
This problem is related to different socioeconomic and nutritional indicators. The report presents a clear relationship between the inability to afford a healthy diet and such variables as a country's income level, the incidence of poverty, and the level of inequality.
The report also reveals that the rise in international food prices experienced since 2020, exacerbated after the start of the conflict in Ukraine, and a regional increase in food inflation above the general level, have increased the difficulties for people to access a healthy diet.
The document also includes recommendations based on evidence and an analysis of policies already implemented to improve the availability and affordability of nutritious foods, focusing on supporting the most vulnerable people and low-income households that spend a more significant proportion of their budget on food.
"There is no individual policy that can solve this problem independently. National and regional coordination mechanisms need to be strengthened to respond to hunger and malnutrition," said Mario Lubetkin, FAO Assistant Director and Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean.
"To contribute to the affordability of healthy diets, it is necessary to create incentives for the diversification of the production of nutritious foods aimed mainly at family farming and small-scale producers, take measures for the transparency of the prices of these foods in markets and trade, and actions such as cash transfers and improving school menus," Lubetkin concluded.
Trade and market policies can play a fundamental role in improving food security and nutrition. Greater transparency and efficiency improve inter-regional agri-food trade by replacing uncertainty with market predictability and stability.
"We are talking about the region of the world with the most expensive healthy diet, which particularly affects vulnerable populations – small farmers, rural women, and indigenous and Afro-descendant populations – who allocate a greater percentage of their income to the purchase of food," said IFAD Regional Director Rossana Polastri. "To reverse this situation, we must promote innovative solutions that diversify production and increase the supply of healthy food, and that improve small producers' access to markets and quality food, including digital solutions that articulate food supply and demand."
The report also describes how some nutrition-sensitive social protection programs have worked and are essential to support the diets of the most vulnerable population, particularly in periods of crisis.
“Food insecurity will continue to rise due to the food and fuel price crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine and the aftermath of COVID-19,” said Lola Castro, WFP Regional Director. “We must act now, but how can we do it? Supporting governments to expand social protection networks because the pandemic once again demonstrated that social protection is useful to improve the affordability of a healthy diet, preventing crises like this from hitting affected populations even more”.
Other food policies, such as nutritional labelling, subsidizing nutritious foods, and taxing unhealthy or non-nutritious foods that do not contribute to healthy diets, if well designed, can improve the affordability of healthy diets and prevent debilitating conditions and diseases related to overweight and obesity.
"We must redouble efforts to address malnutrition in all its forms by promoting public policies to create healthy food environments, eliminate industrially produced trans fats, implement front-end warning labeling, regulate advertising of unhealthy foods, tax sugary drinks, and support healthy eating and physical activity in schools," PAHO Director Carissa F. Etienne said. "Understanding the factors that determine poor dietary practices is key to finding solutions and ensuring that everyone in the region has access to healthy foods," she said.
For example, countries with higher levels of poverty and inequality tend to have more significant difficulties accessing a healthy diet, which is directly associated with a higher prevalence of hunger, chronic malnutrition in boys and girls, and anemia in women aged 15 to 49.
“For children to grow up healthy, it is not only urgent to ensure the availability of nutritious food at affordable prices. It is also necessary to develop public policies that guarantee adequate nutrition, in addition to nutritional counseling, focusing actions on the most vulnerable populations,” said Dr. Garry Conille, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The socioeconomic panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean is not encouraging. The most affected population groups are children under five and women, who suffer a higher prevalence of food insecurity than men.
The Regional Panorama of Food and Nutrition Security 2022 is a joint publication of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO); the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).
The number of hungry people in the region continues to rise
Between 2019 and 2021, the number of hungry people in the region increased by 13.2 million, reaching 56.5 million hungry people in 2021. The highest increase was in South America, where an additional 11 million people suffered from hunger. Between 2019 and 2021, hunger reached a prevalence of 7.9% in South America, 8.4% in Mesoamerica, and 16.4% in the Caribbean.
In 2021, 40.6% of the regional population experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, compared to 29.3% worldwide. Severe food insecurity was also more frequent in the region (14.2%) than in the world (11.7%).
Other figures presented in the report indicate that the region registers an important and positive evolution regarding the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in children under five years of age. In 2020, this figure was 11.3% in Latin America and the Caribbean, approximately ten percentage points below the world average. However, 3.9 million children up to five years of age are overweight.
Read the report:
https://www.fao.org/3/CC2314EN/online/sofi-statistics-rlc-2022/key-messages-ch-1.html
https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc3859en
1 of 5
Press Release
16 January 2023
United Nations Americas Division Director of the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations conducts familiarization visit to Guyana
Ms. Flores will meet with His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, other national authorities, members of the political opposition, civil society, and private sector. In addition, Ms. Flores will be received by Her Excellency Dr. Carla Barnett, Secretary-General of CARICOM. DPPA is the United Nations entity responsible for the UN’s relations with regional organizations.
After visiting Guyana, Ms. Flores will proceed to Suriname for a similar familiarization visit.
1 of 5
Latest Resources
1 / 11
Resources
21 March 2023
Resources
13 September 2022
Resources
18 October 2022
1 / 11