As a result of the economic crisis created by the expansion of COVID-19 and its effects on reducing family income, the rate of severe food malnutrition in the Dominican Republic could increase from 1% before the pandemic to 7.4% in 2021.

The country representative of the World Food Program (WFP) offered the data, Romain Sirois, during a visit to the director of Listín Diario, Miguel Franjul, after the entity was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The WFP representative explained that before the incidence of COVID-19, the Dominican Republic had managed to reduce its severe food malnutrition rate to 1%, a very low rate.

He recognized that the country had achieved that the population assisted through the Progresando con Solidaridad Program (Prosoli) would lower its malnutrition levels by 50%. “In other words, the program has an impact, now because of the COVID-19 issue, things have changed because there are many people from the formal and informal sectors who have lost their income,” Sirois told the director of Listín Diario.

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