DHAKA, Oct 14, 2013 – Bangladesh achieved remarkable absolute progress in improving its Global Hunger Index (GHI) score as it has been able to reduce hunger since 1990.
Bangladesh’s score in GHI was 36.7 in 1990, 35.1 in 1995, 24.0 in 2000, 20.2 in 2005 and 19.4 in 2013, according to the 2013 Global Hunger Index, released for the eighth year by Washington based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide today.
“Comparing the 1990 GHI and the 2013 GHI, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam saw the largest improvements among Asian countries with decreases in their scores ranging between 15 and 23 points,” it said.
IFPRI, Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide have called for greater resilience-building efforts to boost food and nutrition security.
In South Asia, the region with the highest GHI score-20.7- the rates of progress have been uneven, it said, adding that the region reduced its GHI score markedly between 1990 and 1995, but the decrease in GHI scores slowed down afterwards despite strong economic growth.
“It witnessed the steepest absolute decline in GHI scores since 1990, amounting to almost 11 points,” it added.
It said social inequality and the low nutritional, educational, and social status of women are major causes of child under nutrition in this region and have impeded improvements in the GHI score.
India and Timor-Leste have the highest prevalence of underweight in children under five-more than 40 percent in both countries.
It said the developing world is becoming more vulnerable to a variety of shocks and stressors, from extreme weather events, climate change and environmental degradation to population pressures, macroeconomic crises, conflict, and poor governance.
The traditional approach to dealing with shocks is temporary infusions of aid, with separate development efforts focused on mitigating stresses and making people less vulnerable in the longer run.
Yet the persistent vulnerability of regions-such as the Sahel and the Horn of Africa-suggests the traditional separation of relief and development efforts is not working. The Index identifies hunger levels and hot spots across 120 developing countries and countries in transition.
It scores countries based on three equally weighted indicators: (1) the proportion of people who are undernourished, (2) the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and (3) the mortality rate of children under five.
The 2013 Index indicates that global hunger is decreasing; the 2013 world GHI score has fallen by 34 percent from the 1990 GHI score.
Yet world hunger still remains “serious,” with 19 countries suffering from levels of hunger that are either “alarming” or “extremely alarming.”
The 2013 Global Hunger Index has called for the silos between the relief and development communities to be broken down, and for a focus on approaches and outcomes that reflect an increased ability to resist, absorb, and transform in response to shocks.
“Adopting a resilience lens is challenging. We need to build consensus on what it means and on that basis adopt programs and policies that bridge the relief and development sectors,” said
IFPRI research fellow Derek Headey.
Collaboration requires new and better efforts to monitor and evaluate people’s existing vulnerabilities and the impacts of resilience-building activities.
Concern CEO Dominic MacSorley explained, “We must focus on those living in extreme poverty, learn the lessons of the past and be clear what measures are needed to enable the very poorest to become more resilient in the longer term.”
“Concern’s work in Kenya, Ethiopia, Niger and Chad is demonstrating how a resilience approach can deliver significant and sustainable change at community level.
Turning this evidence into policy change is the next important step,” said Dominic MacSorley.
eNewsDesk
