HUNGER LEVEL IN SOUTH ASIA REMAIN ALARMING

The current number of hungry people in the world was estimated at 842 million, reported by the newly released 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI).

The 2013 GHI published by IFPRI, Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide shows that the hunger in South Asia remains classified as “alarming”. As the region with the highest GHI score - meaning it has the worst hunger situation in the world – South Asia did make some progress. Its 2013 GHI core was 34 percent lower than 1990 GHI score. The number of  underweighted children in the country decreased by 10 percentage points between 1990 and 1995 but the progress did not match its rapid economic growth. Social and gender inequality, especially the low nutritional, educational, and social status of women, may contribute to the prevalence of chronic undernutrition among children.

Its neighbor Southeast Asia has performed better. From 1990 to 2012, the undernourished population in Vietnam was reduced from 47 percent to only 9 percent, lowered underweighted children from more than 40 percent to 12 percent, and more than halved the under-five mortality rate. The country’s broad-based economic growth has increased people’s incomes, and government policy has emphasized improvements in nutrition.  This has come about through a series of interventions, such as developing and implementing a plan for preventing protein-energy malnutrition among children, achieving high coverage of immunization and other primary healthcare services, granting targeted health subsidies to the poor, and administering social security programs.

Thailand, another country in Southeast Asia, also has noteworthy achievements in the fight against hunger. Along with robust economic growth and reduced poverty, the government of Thailand made a big commitment to reducing child malnutrition by integrating nutrition into its National Economic and Social Development Plan and implementing successful community-driven nutrition programs starting in the early 1980s.

The 2013 GHI is calculated for 120 countries for which data on its three component indicators are available and where measuring hunger is considered most relevant. The three indicators used are: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the mortality rate of children younger than age five.

Looking forward, the 2013 GHI report called for a collaborative effort to build resilience to protect and improve poor and vulnerable people’s ability to respond to shocks and changes. This requires a consensus on the concept of resilience, the ability to monitor and evaluate existing vulnerabilities and the impacts of resilience-building activities, as well as political dialogue among all stakeholders.

>>Download the 2013 GHI report