Lisbon, April 23, 2025 (Lusa) - <Chronic malnutrition affects four out of 10 children under the age of five in Angola - one of the highest rates in the world, according to the 2024 report on the country compiled by the World Food Programme (WFP) and consulted by the Lusa news agency.
"Angola's nutrition indicators continue to be worrying, with chronic malnutrition (stunting) affecting 40% of children under the age of five - one of the highest rates in the world," points out the United Nations agency, which works to combat hunger and food insecurity around the globe.
Malnutrition is the result of multiple factors, including limited access to nutritious food, poor maternal and child health, inadequate health services, economic instability and deep-rooted patriarchal norms, explains the report.
According to the document, Angola is among the countries with the greatest inequality in the world, with 31% of the population (11.6 million people) living below the poverty line, on less than €2 a day.
"The low level of schooling and poor health outcomes place the country 150th out of 193 on the Human Capital Index," states the WFP report, adding that extreme child poverty is widespread, with one in three children under the age of 15 living on less than €2 a day.
In addition, more than one quarter of all school-age children have never attended school, increasing the risk of intergenerational poverty, according to the document.
The WFP adds that Angola is facing significant economic and climatic shocks, which threaten economic growth and food security, with people at risk being the most affected.
The country has also faced the most severe droughts in the last four decades, aggravated the by El Niño phenomenon in 2024, reflected in reduced agricultural yields, loss of income and property, lack of water and displacement of people, particularly in the southern and eastern regions.
Despite the vast tracts of land with agricultural potential and a favourable climate, 80% of farmers in Angola are engaged in subsistence farming, although the government has identified the agricultural sector in its National Development Plan for 2023-2027 as a driver of inclusive growth and economic diversification.
Angola, which has around 35 million inhabitants, saw economic growth of almost 4% last year, its fastest rate since 2014, but high global food prices, currency depreciation and rising fuel prices helped push inflation up to close to 28% at the end of last year.
On the other hand, the WFP report highlights the progress made in recent years in terms of gender equality, stressing that it needs to be "accelerated" by official and societal action.
"Inequalities in access to and control over resources, social norms and structural barriers continue to be widespread, limiting women's ability to benefit from and contribute equally to agricultural productivity, the transformation of food systems and rural development," it emphasises.
Meanwhile, although Angola has implemented a first direct cash transfer programme, Kwenda, which aims to reach 1.5 million low-income families, only 10% of the population benefits from any social protection scheme.
In 2024, the WFP reached 75,200 people in Angola, 55% of whom were women and children, but assistance was reduced by 53% due to "funding constraints and delays in contributions," the report notes.
The WFP is entirely funded by voluntary donations from governments, international organisations, companies and individual donors, with the US until now the main donor.
The WFP last year supported 48,000 children and pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls and, in the provinces most affected by the drought, provided vouchers for basic products to 31,000 household members of children with acute malnutrition, to the tune of around €700,000 in all.
It also provided food assistance to 5,600 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo living in the settlement of Lóvua, in Angola's Lunda Norte province.
RCR/ARO // ARO.
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