The Adverse Effects of Rising Food Prices on Children and Women in MENA Region

A perfect storm of factors converged in late 2007 to create upward pressure on global food prices which took much of the world by surprise and which negatively impacted billions of people already living precariously. The food price crisis particularly affected populations who were already food insecure and dependent on resource transfer programs as well as those living ‘on the edge’ and vulnerable to slight shocks to their fragile livelihoods.

This summary report documents some of the ways different countries have tried to mitigate the effects of the food crisis in the short term. In the longer term, the MENA countries will need to find ways to coordinate an overall food security strategy able to address many of the structural difficulties the regions face, such as critical water shortage and inefficient agriculture.