GLOBAL HUNGER AS A NON-COMMUNICABLE PANDEMIC: An Agent-Neutral Reconceptualization via Twaddle’s Triad and the Biopsychosocial Model

This article examines whether chronic hunger meets agent-neutral criteria for treatment as a non-communicable pandemic in global health. It integrates Twaddle’s disease–illness–sickness triad with Engel’s biopsychosocial model and operationalizes “pandemic” using six criteria (transnational spread, high burden, socioeconomic disruption, international coordination, externalities, and stable governance/funding). An explicit bioethical anchor is incorporated: right to food, distributive justice, structural non-maleficence, solidarity, and intergenerational responsibility. Verification is based on recent institutional evidence and literature on population nutrition, social determinants, syndemics, and governance. Multilevel packages (community, national, global) with countercyclical financing and integrated surveillance are derived, and objections (dilution, medicalization, terminology, thresholds) are addressed. The proposal is linked to SDG-2 and the 2030 Agenda. It is concluded that the agent-neutral pandemic framework does not dilute the term but rather refines it for decision-making when the burden and disruption so require.