LatinNews Daily - 30 April 2024

*Guatemala’s President Bernardo Arévalo has announced the launch of an inter-sectoral initiative to combat poverty and malnutrition. The new president, who won the 2023 election on the pledge to combat corruption, said that the initiative (more details of which have yet to be released) involves the participation of at least ten institutions from the public and private sector and will be led by the social development ministry (Mides) and the secretariat of food and nutritional security (Sesan). Guatemala’s poverty rate was estimated at 55.1% of the population in 2023 according to a World Bank (WB) April 2024 update which also highlights that at 47%, the country’s child malnutrition rate is among the ten highest in the world. According to the WB, in several of the poorest municipalities, the share of households with stunted children under five is often close to 90%.