Government actions helped remove Brazil from Hunger Map, says minister
A joint interministerial effort involving more than 80 actions enabled Brazil to exit the Hunger Map. This assessment was made by Minister Wellington Dias of the Ministry of Development, Social Assistance, Family, and Combating Hunger during a press conference on Monday (Jul. 28) to discuss the United Nations (UN) indicator.
“Exiting the Hunger Map demonstrates the impact of the Brazilian government’s work in 2023 and 2024, which reduced malnutrition to less than 2.5 percent of the population,” said the minister.
The Hunger Map is a global UN indicator identifying countries with chronic food insecurity. Information about Brazil’s removal from the map was presented on Monday during the 2nd United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS+4) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“Leaving the Hunger Map is the result of the Brazil Without Hunger Plan, which integrates more than 80 actions and programs across 24 ministries,” stated the minister.
Goal
Being on the Hunger Map means that a significant portion of the population lacks regular access to sufficient food for a healthy life. For Minister Wellington Dias, the announcement is historically significant and even surprising, given that the goal was to exit the Hunger Map by 2026.
“We achieved the goal in record time [in two years]. This result shows that the Brazilian government’s Brazil Without Hunger Plan was effective and supported by robust public policies,” said Dias.
The minister believes a country cannot have sovereignty without food justice, social justice, and democracy.
“Just as Brazil’s public healthcare system, the SUS, saved lives during the pandemic, the Brazilian Food and Nutrition Security System also saved millions of lives,” he said.
Priorities
Wellington Dias stated that Brazil’s exit from the Hunger Map is the result of political decisions by the government that prioritized poverty reduction, stimulated job and income generation, increased the minimum wage, supported family farming, strengthened school feeding, and improved access to healthy food.
According to him, the main step was adjusting the registry of social program beneficiaries.
“We integrated this mission to lift people out of hunger with a set of measures to overcome poverty,” he said.
The minister recalled that this is the second time Brazil has exited the Hunger Map; the first was in 2014.
Wellington Dias criticized the previous government, led by Jair Bolsonaro, which, he said, dismantled social programs, causing the country to regress and return to the critical situation of 2021.
Active search
For the Minister of Development and Social Assistance, it is the government’s role to intensify the active search for families suffering from malnutrition by cross-referencing information and visiting their homes to reach those most in need.
Although he did not give a deadline, the minister said a second phase of the Brazil Without Hunger Plan is expected to be launched soon. “We should be working on the launch of this new phase very soon,” said the minister.
